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REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 


MORAL   RECOVERY, 


BHOWTKG  THB 


POWER  OF  RELIGION  IN  EXTREME  CASES. 


This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ 
Jesns  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners;  of  whom  I  am  chief. 

St.  Paul, 


EDITED  BY  ABEL  STEVENS. 


PUBLISHED  BY  CARLTON  &   PHILLIPS, 


900   BIULBKRRY-8TKEET. 


^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854,  by 

CARLTON   &   PHILLIPS, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern 
District  of  New-Yorlc. 


:\  •■ 


x*^  >  ■■ 


W-^' 


PREFACE 


The  following  narratives  are  all  facts  from  real 
life.  They  are  also  what  the  title  of  the  volume 
purports, — examples  of  the  grace  of  God  in  ex- 
treme cases.  The  case  of  the  Earl  of  Roches- 
ter is  well  known,  through  the  narrative  of  Bishop 
Burnet ;  the  other  sketches  are  mostly  new  in 
this  country.  They  are  all  well  adapted  to  their 
design — namely,  the  encouragement  of  penitent 
sinners,  even  if  among  "  the  chief  of  sinners." 

A  more  remarkable  instance  of  moral  recovery 
can  hardly  be  found  than  that  from  intemperance 
here  given. 

A  work  like  this  is  liable  to  one  serious  ob- 
jection: its  examples  may  lend  encouragement 
to  the  neglect  of  religion  till  a  **  more  convenient 
season."  The  sufficient  reply  is,  that  as  matters 
of  real  fact  in  the  history  of  Christian  experience, 
they  should  not  be  suppressed  on  account  of  any 
such  unjustifiable  use ;  that  while  the  reckless 


may  thus  abuse  them,  there  are  many  cases  of 
sincere  but  despondent  penitence  to  which  they 
may  aflford  necessary  encouragement  and  guid- 
ance ;  that  as  examples  of  "  the  goodness  of 
God,"  they  will  more  generally  lead  to  repent- 
ance than  to  hardness  of  heart;  and  that  the 
mournful  warnings  against  the  procrastination  of 
religion,  given  by  these  redeemed  sufferers,  will 
tend  much  to  avert  such  an  abuse. 

The  narratives  are  given  in  the  simple,  una- 
dorned language  in  which  they  were  mostly 
found  ;  for  they  are  designed  for  the  humblest 
minds,  while  the  astutest  may,  nevertheless,  find 
in  them  some  of  the  sublimest  revealings  of  the 
human  soul. 

Take  this  little  book,  fallen  and  broken-hearted 
man,  and  learn  the  infinite  compassion  of  thy 
heavenly  Father,  who  has  "  no  pleasure  in  the 
death  of  the  wicked,"  and  whose  angels  rejoice 
"  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth  more  than  over 
ninety  and  nine  just  persons  which  need  no  re- 
pentance." 


CONTENTS 


PAGS 

Earl  of  Rochester 7 

Hon.  Robert  Maxwell,  of  the  British  Navy 19 

Charles  E ,  the  Crippled  Sailor.  ^ 39 

Conversion  and  Experience  of  William  How.vrd,     61 

Extraordinary  Recovery  from  Intemperance 75 

H G ,   A  Striking   Instance   of   Divine 

Grace 131 

John  Warren    Howell — Perfect  Peace   Exem- 
plified   145 

The  Vessel  of  Gold  ;  or,  Sanctified  Affliction.  154 
Last  Days  of  the  late  Earl  of  Ducie 180 


REMARKABLE  EXAMPLES 

OF 

MORAL  RECOYERY. 


EAKL  OF  EOCHESTEE. 

This  nobleman  was  distinguished  in  his  life  as  a 
great  wit  and  a  great  sinner ;  and,  in  his  last  ill- 
ness, as  a  great  penitent.  Such  he  is  described 
by  the  excellent  Bishop  Burnet,  who  personally 
knew  him,  and  attended  him  on  his  death-bed. 

Before  this  period,  he  had  advanced  to  an  un- 
common degree  of  impiety,  having  been  a  zeal- 
ous advocate  in  the  cause  of  atheism.  He  had 
reveled,  likewise,  in  the  depths  of  debauchery, 
and  had  openly  ridiculed  all  virtue  and  religion. 
But  when,  like  the  prodigal  in  the  gospel,  he 
came  to  know  himself,  horror  filled  his  mind, 
and  drew  from  him  the  keenest  self-reproaches. 
He  was,  in  his  own  eyes,  the  vilest  wretch  on 
earth ;  and  often  wished  that  he  had  been  a  beg- 
gar, or  a  captive  in  a  dungeon,  rather  than  that 
he  should  ao  grossly  have  offended  God. 


8  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

On  a  journey  into  the  west  of  England,  some 
time  before  his  end,  he  had  been  arguing  with 
pecuhar  vehemence  against  God  and  religion ; 
not,  however,  without  feeling,  even  at  the  time, 
the  sting  of  an  accusing  conscience. 

One  day,  at  an  atheistical  meeting  in  the  house 
of  a  person  of  quality,  he  undertook  to  be  the 
champion  of  infidelity,  and  received  the  applauses 
of  the  company ;  but  here  again  his  conscience" 
reproached  him,  and  he  exclaimed  to  himself, 
"Good  God!  that  a  man  who  walks  upright, 
who  sees  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  and  has 
the  use  of  his  reason — that  such  a  one  should 
bid  defiance  to  his  Creator !" 

These  successive  convictions,  however,  gradu- 
ally wore  off;  and  it  was  not,  as  above  hinted, 
till  his  last  illness,  which  continued  about  nine 
weeks,  that  he  appears  to  have  been  truly  con- 
vinced and  savingly  converted.  Then  he  saw 
the  "  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,"  and  learned 
the  value  of  the  atonement  on  which  his  hopes 
of  pardon  were  founded.  "Shall  the  joys  of 
heaven,"  exclaimed  he,  "be  conferred  on  me? 
0  mighty  Saviour,  never,  but  through  thy  infinite 
love  and  satisfaction !  0  never,  but  by  the  pur- 
chase of  thy  blood !" 

The  Scriptures,  which  had  so  often  been  the 
subject  of  his  merriment,  now  secured  his  esteem, 


OF    MORAL    mX'OVERY 


and  inspired  delight ;  for  they  had  spoken  to  his 
heart:  the  seeming  absurdities  and  contradic- 
tions, fancied  by  men  of  cornipt  and  reprobate 
judgments,  vanished ;  and  he  was  brought  to 
receive  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it.  The  fifty- 
third  chapter  of  Isaiah,  which  was  repeatedly 
read  to  him  by  Mr.  Parsons,  was  made  particu- 
larly useful  to  him.  Comparing  it  with  the  his- 
toiy  of  our  Saviour's  passion,  he  saw  the  fulfill- 
ment of  a  prophecy  written  several  ages  before, 
and  which  the  Jews  who  blasphemed  Jesus  still 
kept  in  their  hands  as  an  inspired  book.  He 
confessed  to  Bishop  Burnet  that,  as  he  heard  it 
read,  "  he  felt  an  inward  force  upon  him,  which 
did  so  enlighten  his  mind  and  convince  him,  that 
he  could  resist  it  no  longer :  for  the  words  had 
an  authority  which  did  shoot  like  rays  or  beams 
in  his  mind ;  so  that  he  was  not  only  convinced 
by  the  reasonings  he  had  about  it,  which  satis- 
fied his  understanding,  but  by  a  power  which 
did  so  effectually  constrain  him,  that  he  did  ever 
after  as  firmly  believe  in  his  Saviour  as  if  he  had 
seen  him  in  the  clouds." 

He  had  this  chapter  read  so  often  to  him,  that 
he  "  got  it  by  heart,  and  went  through  a  great 
part  of  it,"  says  the  bishop,  "  in  discourse  with 
me,  with  a  sort  of  heavenly  pleasure,  giving  me 
his  reflections  on  it,  some  of  which  I  remember. 


10  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

*  Who  hath  believed  our  report?^  *  Here/  he 
said,  *  was  foretold  the  opposition  the  gospel 
was  to  meet  with  from  such  wretches  as  he  was.' 

*  He  hath  no  form  nor  comehness  ;  and  when  we 
shall  see  him,  tliere  is  no  beauty  that  we  should 
desire  him.'  On  this  he  said,  'The  meanness  of 
his  appearance  and  person  has  made  vain  and 
foolish  people  disparage  him,  because  he  came 
not  in  such  a  fool's  coat  as  they  delighted  in.' 
Many  other  observations  he  made,  which  were 
not  noted  down ;  enlarging  on  many  passages 
with  a  degree  of  heavenly  pleasure,  and  apply- 
ing various  parts  of  it  to  his  own  humiliation 
and  comfort.  *  O  my  God,'  he  would  say,  *  can 
such  a  creature  as  I,  who  have  denied  thy  being 
and  contemned  thy  power,  be  accepted  by  thee  ? 
Can  there  be  mercy  and  pardon  for  me  ?  Will 
God  own  such  a  wretch  as  I  am  ?' 

"His  faith  now  rested  on  Christ  alone  for 
salvation,  and  often  would  he  entreat  God  to 
strengthen  it ;  crying  out,  '  Lord,  I  beheve ;  help 
thou  mine  unbelief.'  In  this  state,  however,  the 
grand  enemy  of  souls  failed  not  to  assault  him 
with  many  temptations,  often  suggesting  ideas 
highly  prejudicial  to  that  happy  temper  of  mind 
with  which  God  had  now  endued  him.  *  But  I 
thank  God,'  said  he,  on  one  of  these  occasions — 

*  I  thank  God  that  I  abhor  them  all ;  and  by  the 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  11 

power  of  grace,  whicli  I  am  confident  is  STif- 
ficient  for  me,  I  have  overcome  them.  It  is  the 
malice  of  the  devil,  because  I  am  rescued  from 
him;  and  it  is  the  goodness  of  God  that  frees 
me  from  all  my  spiritual  enemies.'  " 

He  gave  many  proofs  of  the  sincerity  of  his 
faith  and  the  soimdness  of  his  repentance ;  among 
which,  his  earnest  desire  to  prevent  the  evil  effects 
of  his  former  writings  and  example  is  particularly 
to  be  remarked.  He  gave  a  strict  charge  to  the 
persons  in  whose  custody  he  left  his  papers,  that 
all  his  profane  and  lewd  writings  and  pictures 
should  be  burned ;  and  he  desired  all  who  at- 
tended him  to  publish  abroad,  that  all  men  might 
know,  "how  severely  God  had  disciplined  him 
for  his  sins  by  his  afflicting  hand ;  acknowledg- 
ing that  his  sufferings  would  have  been  most  just, 
had  they  been  ten  times  more  heavy."  His  for- 
mer visitations,  he  confessed,  had  produced  some 
slight  resolutions  of  reforming,  arising  from  the 
present  painful  consequences  of  his  sins;  but 
now  he  declared  that  he  had  other  sentiments 
of  things,  and  acted  upon  other  principles  ;  that, 
in  short,  he  possessed  so  great  an  abhorrence  of 
all  sin,  that  he  would  not  commit  a  known  one 
to  gain  a  kingdom. 

To  his  former  companions  in  sin  he  sent  awful 
messages,  and  to  some,  who  visited  him,  he  gave 


12  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

tlie  most  solemn  warnings.  To  one  gentleman 
in  particular  he  said:  "0  remember  that  you 
contemn  God  no  more.  He  is  an  avenging  God, 
and  will  visit  you  for  your  sins  ;  and  will,  I  hope, 
in  mercy  touch  your  conscience,  sooner  or  later,  as 
he  has  done  mine.  You  and  I  have  been  friends 
and  sinners  together  a  great  while ;  therefore  I 
am  the  more  free  with  you.  We  have  been  all 
mistaken  in  our  conceits,  and  our  persuasions 
have  been  false  and  groundless ;  therefoi-e,  God 
grant  you  repentance  !"  Seeing  the  same  per- 
son again  the  next  day,  he  said,  "Perhaps  you 
were  disobliged  by  my  plainness  with  you  yes- 
terday :  I  spake  the  words  of  truth  and  sober- 
ness ;"  and,  striking  his  hand  upon  his  breast, 
said,  "  I  hope  God  will  touch  your  heart." 

Knowing  the  rock  on  which  himself  had  foun- 
dered, he  expressed  an  earnest  wish  that  his  son 
might  never  prove  one  of  those  profane  and 
licentious  wits  who  pride  themselves  in  denying 
God  and  scoffing  at  religion ;  but  that  he  might 
become  an  honest  and  religious  man,  and  that  all 
his  family  might  be  educated  in  the  fear  of  God. 

Further,  that  none  whom  he  had  been  the 
instrument  of  drawing  into  sin  might  lose  the 
benefit  of  his  sincere  repentance,  he  subscribed 
the  following  recantation,  and  ordered  it  to  be 
pubhshed  to  the  world  : — 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  13 

'•'For  the  benefit  of  all  those  whom  I  may- 
Lave  drawn  into  sin  by  my  example  and  encour- 
agement, I  leave  to  the  world  this  ray  last  dec- 
laration, which  I  deliver  in  the  presence  of  the 
great  God,  who  knows  the  secrets  of  all  hearts, 
and  before  whom  I  am  to  be  judged,  that,  from 
the  bottom  of  my  soul,  I  detest  and  abhor  the 
whole  course  of  ray  former  wicked  life;  that  I 
think  I  can  never  sufficiently  admire  the  good- 
ness of  God,  who  has  given  me  a  true  sense  of 
my  pernicious  opinions  and  vile  practices,  by 
which  I  have  hitherto  lived  without  hope  and 
without  God  in  the  world;  have  been  an  open 
enemy  to  Jesus  Christ,  doing  the  utmost  despite 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  of  grace ;  and  that  the  great- 
est testimony  of  my  charity  to  such  is  to  warn 
them,  in  the  name  of  God,  and  as  they  regard 
the  welfare  of  their  immortal  souls,  no  more  to 
deny  his  being  or  his  providence,  or  despise  his 
goodness ;  no  more  to  make  a  mock  of  sin,  or 
contemn  the  pure  and  excellent  religion  of  my 
ever-blessed  Redeemer;  through  whose  merits 
alone,  I,  one  of  the  greatest  of  sinners,  do  yet 
hope  for  mercy  and  forgiveness.     Amen. 

"J.  Rochester." 

"  Delivered  and  signed  in  the  presence  of 

"Ann  Rochester, 
••/u7i«19, 1680.  R.  Parsons." 


14  REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

We  now  return  to  the  death-bed  experience 
of  this  converted  nobleman,  and  mark  the  power 
of  religion  upon  his  mind  in  that  important  sea- 
son. He  seemed  to  have  no  desire  to  live,  ex- 
cept to  testify  the  truth  of  his  repentance,  and 
to  bring  glory  to  God,  "If  God,"  said  he, 
"should  spare  me  yet  a  little  longer  here,  I 
hope  to  bring  gloiy  to  his  name  proportionably 
to  the  dishonor  I  have  done  him  in  my  whole 
life  past;  and  particularly  by  endeavoring  to 
convince  others,  and  to  assure  them  of  the  dan- 
ger of  their  condition,  if  they  continue  impeni- 
tent ;  and  to  tell  them  how  graciously  God  hath 
dealt  with  me." 

And  when  he  came  within  the  nearer  views 
of  death,  about  three  or  four  days  before  his 
departure,  he  said,  "I  shall  now  die.  But  O, 
what  unspeakable  glories  do  I  see !  what  joys 
beyond  thought  or  expression  am  I  sensible  of ! 
1  am  assured  of  God's  mercy  to  me  through 
Jesus  Christ.  O  how  I  long  to  die  and  to  be 
with  my  Saviour !" 

Thus  died  this  eminent  subject  of  regenerating 
grace,  July  26,  1680,  being  only  in  his  thirty- 
fourth  year :  yet,  so  was  life  worn  away  by 
his  long  illness,  and  the  effects  of  his  former 
licentious  course,  that  nature  gave  up  without  a 
struggle.     In  him  was  strikingly  verified  the 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERY.  15 

remark  of  the  apostle  in  another  case,  that 
**  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more 
abound."  The  account  published  by  Bishop 
Burnet  gives  the  particulars  of  his  conversion 
more  at  length,  and  the  various  conversations 
on  divine  things  between  them,  under  the  title 
of  "  Some  Passages  in  the  Life  and  Death  of 
John,  Earl  of  Rochester;"  of  which  the  late 
Dr.  Johnson  entertained  so  high  an  opinion  that 
he  says,  "  The  critic  ought  to  read  it  for  its  ele- 
gance, the  philosopher  for  its  arguments,  and 
the  saint  for  its  piety." 

Mr.  Parsons,  chaplain  to  Lady  Rochester, 
preached  and  printed  a  funeral  sermon  for  his 
lordship ;  in  which,  after  mentioning  many  of  the 
same  or  similar  circumstances  with  the  bishop, 
he  makes  the  following  remarks  : — 

"  Having  thus  discharged  the  office  of  an  his- 
torian, in  a  faithful  representation  of  the  conver- 
sion and  death  of  this  great  sinner,  give  me 
leave  now  to  bespeak  you,  as  an  embassador  of 
Christ,  and,  in  his  name,  earnestly  to  persuade 
you  to  be  reconciled  to  him,  and  to  follow  this 
illustrious  person,  not  in  his  sins  any  more,  but 
in  his  sorrow  for  them,  and  forsaking  them.  If 
any  have  been  drawn  into  sin  from  his  example, 
let  them  be  persuaded  by  the  same  example  to 
break  off  their  sins  by  repentance.     God  knows 


16  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

there  are  too  many  that  are  wise  enough  to  dis- 
cern and  to  follow  the  examples  of  evil,  but  to  do 
good  from  these  examples  they  have  no  power. 
Such  as  these  I  would  beseech,  in  their  cooler 
seasons,  to  ask  themselves,  *  What  fruit  had  ye 
in  those  things  whereof  ye  are  now  ashamed? 
for  the  end  of  those  things  is  death.'  Be  per- 
suaded, then,  with  a  humble  and  obedient  heart, 
to  meet  the  blessed  Jesus,  who  is  now  on  the 
way  and  comes  to  us  in  the  bowels  of  a  Saviour, 
beseeching  us  to  accept  the  pardon  and  peace 
offered  in  his  holy  gospel.'* 


On  this  aflfecting  story  let  us  reflect : — 
1.  How  awful  is  sin  against  God!  Though 
grace  abounded  in  the  case  of  this  profligate 
man,  yet  what  agonies  did  it  cost  him !  and  how 
dreadfully  did  his  sin  find  him  out,  in  bringing 
him,  through  painful  disease,  to  an  untimely 
death !  Nor  let  any  sinner  abuse  the  grace  of 
God,  by  continuing  in  sin,  because  this  vile 
wretch  found  grace  at  the  last.  Remember, 
such  instances  are  rare ; — few,  very  few  sinners 
truly  repent  on  a  death-bed ;  we  have  but  one 
such  instance  recorded  in  all  the  Scripture.  To- 
day, then,  while  it  is  called  to-day,  0  turn  and 
live!     ''Harden  not  vour  hearts,  lest  he  swear 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  iV 

in  his  wratli  that  you  shall  not  enter  into  his 
rest." 

2.  Reflect  upon  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  teaching  and  convicting  sinners.  This  was 
that  power  which  did  so  effectually  constrain 
him.  0,  sinner,  pray  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may 
thus  work  effectually  in  you  ! 

3.  Remark  and  admire  the  extent  of  divine 
grace  here  manifested.  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  cleanseth  from  all  sin  ; — 
that  blood  is  of  infinite  value; — it  is  sufficient 
for  the  vilest ; — Jesus  is  a  Saviour  to  the  utter- 
most. 0  wretched  sinner,  or  miserable  back- 
slider, who  art  ready  to  despair  at  the  greatness 
of  thy  sins,  come  to  Jesus ; — he  will  in  no  wise 
cast  thee  out ! 

4.  Remark  the  effect  of  real  conversion. 
Lord  Rochester  did  all  he  could  to  prevent  the 
evil  consequences  of  his  wickedness.  It  is  a 
mournful  reflection  that  he  could  not  undo 
them :  indeed  the  baneful  effects  still  remain. 
0  make  not  light  of  sin,  though  it  be  pardoned, 
and  you  who  profess  religion  beware  of  deceiv- 
ing your  own  souls !  If  ye  love  not  Jesus,  nor 
honor  the  Father,  nor  are  influenced  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  you,  so  as  actually  to 
forsake  your  sins,  to  make  all  reparation  in  your 
power  for  them,  and  to  make  the  holy  law  of 

2 


18  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

God  the  rule  of  your  conduct,  it  is  because  you 
have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  are  none  of 
his.  May  God  give  us  grace,  hke  the  example 
before  us,  to  receive  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it ; 
and  in  our  dying  moments  to  receive,  as  we  hope 
he  did,  the  consolation  of  the  gospel,  and  enter 
into  peace  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  and 
Saviour. 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERY.  19 


THE  LAST  DAYS 


THE  HON.  ROBERT  MAXWELL, 

OF  THE  BRITISH  XAVY. 


BY    HIS    BPw  OTHER, 


May  9th,  1841. — I  much  regret  not  having 
earlier  kept  a  diary  of  my  intercourse  with  my 
dear  brother  Robert.  His  windpipe  being  ex- 
tensively diseased,  he  has  been  able  to  speak  but 
little,  and  only  in  a  whisper.  I  could  wish  that 
I  had  recorded  his  remarks  ever  since  I  first  saw 
him,  on  his  return  from  sea ;  they  w^ould  have 
exhibited  a  most  interesting  state  of  mind  ;  for 
every  successive  interview  has  developed  how 
graciously  God  has  been  preparing  him  for  a 
peaceful  departure. 

Robert,  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  was  very 
little  known  to  me.  For  the  last  twelve  years 
he  had  been  at  sea,  and  for  seven  years  had 
never  left  the  Mediterranean.  I  had  been  long- 
in  expectation  of  the  arrival  of  the  ship  to  which 


I 


20  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

he  belonged ;  and,  ignorant  of  the  state  of  his 
health,  I  was  anxious  to  get  him  afloat  again  as 
soon  as  possible.  For  this  purpose  I  had  writ- 
ten to  some  naval  acquaintances,  and  among 
others,  to   my  dear  Christian   friend,   Admiral 

,  who  lived  near  Portsmouth.     I  was  very 

anxious  to  make  Robert  acquainted  with  him. 
I  wrote  to  him  to  call  on  the  admiral,  who,  I 
said,  was  a  pious  man,  and  desired  much  to 
see  him.  It  was  in  reply  to  this  letter,  that 
Robert  gave  me  the  first  intimation  of  his  feel- 
ings on  the  subject  of  religion.  He  wrote  to 
me  from  Sheerness,  dated  April  4th,  1841  :— 
"  If  I  go  to  Portsmouth,  you  may  depend  on  it 

I   shall   not   fail  to  see  Admiral .     I   am 

sorry  to  say  I  am  not  religious  myself ;  but  I 
love  reho-ious  people.  Mine  is  a  curious  state : 
it  is  one  that  worldly  people  would  call  religious ; 
but  I  am  not  so.  I  would  dread  to  take  God's 
name  in  vam,  or  to  do  anything  of  that  kind.  I 
have  a  fancy  that  if  I  say  my  prayers  of  a 
morning,  all  will  go  well  during  the  day.  The 
same  of  a  Sunday ;  I  would  not  miss  church  for 
fear  the  following  week  would  not  prosper ;  but, 
still,  I  am  not  religious.  I  feel  I  am  not;  I 
think  more  of  the  world  than  of  my  soul ;  yet  I 
would  as  soon  think  of  mocking  religion  openly, 
as  I  would  of  shooting  myself  this  moment.     I 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  21 

have  at  first  told  3^ou  this,  that  you  may  know 
what  kind  of  person  you  will  find  in  me." 

I  blessed  God  for  the  hope  which  this  letter 
gave  me ;  and  I  felt  doubly  thankful  for  it  on 
leaiTiing  his  physician's  opinion  of  his  delicate 
state  of  health,  the  extent  of  which  I  had  not 
known,  nor,  indeed,  had  he  himself. 

He  came  to  me.  In  my  first  conversation 
with  him  on  eternal  things  he  showed  a  meek 
and  docile  spirit,  and  a  thirst  after  that  knowl- 
edge which  maketh  wise  unto  salvation.  Feel- 
ing God's  word  in  the  hands  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  be  the  great  instrument  of  conversion,  I  se- 
lected the  Lord's  message  to  David,  by  the 
mouth  of  Nathan,  as  the  first  passage  to  bring 
before  him.  He  listened  with  intense  interest, 
while  I  endeavored  to  point  out  how  the  first 
movement  in  a  sinner's  salvation  comes  from 
God.  David  was  in  a  hardened,  indifferent  state. 
God  sent  his  word  by  his  prophet.  David  was 
ready  to  apply  it  to  any  one  but  himself,  until 
the  Spirit,  whose  office  it  is  to  convince  of  sin, 
brought  it  home  to  himself,  personally,  saying, 
**  Thou  art  the  man !"  Assured  that  the  success 
of  all  my  efforts,  imder  God,  on  behalf  of  my 
dear  brother's  soul,  must  depend  on  his  being 
enabled  to  appropriate  Scripture  to  his  own  case, 
I  endeavored  to  show  him  hov*^  "  whatsoever 


22  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

things  were  written,"  even  in  tlie  historical  parts 
of  the  Bible,  "  were  written  for  our  learning, 
that  we  through  patience  and.  comfort  of  the 
Scriptures  might  have  hope."  Rom.  xv,  4.  I 
then  proceeded  to  point  out,  in  the  case  of  David, 
the  blessed  effect  of  thus  receiving  and  appro- 
priating God's  word  to  ourselves ;  that  the  im- 
mediate result  of  so  doing  was  to  bring  us  into 
the  presence  of  an  offended  God,  in  the  spirit 
and  with  the  language  of  the  fifty-first  Psalm ; 
to  give  us,  as  therein  contained,  the  true  estimate 
of  sin,  as  committed  "  against  God,"  and  trace- 
able to  the  corruption  of  our  common  nature  as 
its  source ;  a  true  view  also  of  the  character  of 
God,  not  only  as  a  God  of  mercy  but  of  justice, 
who,  as  such,  is  to  be  approached,  as  David  ap- 
proached him,  only  through  the  atoning  sacrifice 
of  Jesus ;  the  terms,  "  blot  out,"  "  wash," 
"  cleanse,"  "  purge,"  pointing  forward  to  the 
blood  to  be  shed  on  Calvary,  just  as  we  now, 
with  clearer  light,  look  back,  by  faith,  to  the 
same  purifying  fountain. 

He  had  not,  as  yet,  given  me  any  opportunity 
of  knowing  his  views  on  the  great  essentials  of 
divine  truth ;  but  I  was  not  long  left  in  doubt : 
he  took  an  early  occasion  of  unbosoming  himself 
to  me;  and  I  found  that  a  deep  conviction  of 
sin  had  taken  place  in  his  mind  ;  and  that  God's 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  23 

Spirit  had  not  only  performed  this  his  first  work, 
but  had  also  directed  him  to  Christ,  so  far  as  to 
see  him  to  be  the  sinner's  only  hope.  In  one 
of  his  first  conversations,  he  complained  to  me 
that  he  feared  his  repentance  v/as  not  of  the 
right  kind.  The  Lord  enabled  me  to  direct  him 
to  portions  of  his  word  which  gave  him  light  on 
this  subject,  and  much  subsequent  comfort.  I 
shall  briefly  allude  to  them. 

I  felt  that  a  solemn  duty  had  devolved  on  me 
to  direct  my  dying  brother  to  "  behold  the  Lamb 
of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
I  told  him  that  the  repentance  which  he  sought 
was  to  come  from  Christ,  who  was  exalted  to 
give  it,  (Acts  v,  31  ;)  that  gospel  repentance, 
which  meant  a  change  of  mind,  was  the  result 
of  knowing  the  evil  of  sin,  as  exhibited  in  the 
crucifixion  of  Christ.  I  refen-ed  him  to  Zech. 
xii,  10,  where  God's  Spirit  enables  the  convinced 
sinner  to  look  upon  him  whom,  by  his  sins,  he 
has  pierced :  and  the  immediate  consequence  is 
the  mourning  of  true  repentance — that  "  godly 
sorrow"  which  "worketh  repentance  to  salva- 
tion not  to  be  repented  of."  2  Cor.  vii,  10.  I 
directed  him  also  to  Jeremiah  xxxi,  19  :  "After 
that  I  was  turned,  I  repented ;  and  after  that  I 
was  instructed,  I  smote  upon  my  thigh."  Du- 
ring this  conversation,  dear  Robert's  frequently 


24  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

uplifted  eyes,  filled  with  tears,  bespoke  the  inter- 
est with  which  he  entered  into  all  that  was  said. 

Being  anxious  to  knovf  something  of  his  expe- 
rience before  he  came  home,  I  asked  him  if  his 
mind  had  been  directed  much  to  the  subject  of 
religion  on  board  his  ship.  He  said  that  about 
eight  years  ago  he  was  under  very  serious  im- 
pressions ;  that  they  passed  away,  leaving,  how- 
ever, a  small  voice,  which  kept  him  from  run- 
ning into  the  depths  of  wickedness  into  which 
others  had  plunged ;  yet  he  felt  now  that  he 
wa^  as  bad  as  any  of  them  ;  that  he  was  worldly 
and  careless,  with  far  greater  hght  than  others 
possessed ;  and  there  was  a  pang  often  in  his 
conscience  which  told  him  he  W£is  not  right. 
He  added,  that  he  had  long  entertained  a  par- 
ticular ]-espect  for  religious  people,  and  greatly 
envied"  them.  He  mentioned  the  many  narrow 
escapes  he  had  had,  having  four  times  fallen 
overboard  when  he  was  unable  to  swim ;  that 
his  feet  had  often,  while  aloft,  slipped,  and  he 
would  have  been  precipitated  sixty  or  seventy 
feet,  had  he  not  caught  hold  of  a  rope ;  but 
tliat  no  providential  deliverancce  of  himself  or 
of  others  had  left  an  abiding  impression  on  his 
mind. 

As  long  as  he  was  able  to  bear  it,  he  was 
driven  out  for  an  hour  or  two  dayly,  and  he 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  26 

greatly  enjoyed  himself  on  these  occasions.  He 
could  see  a  Father's  hand  in  all  the  beauty 
which  surrounded  him.  During  one  of  his  first 
drives,  he  gave  to  the  person  Ti'ho  accompanied 
him  the  following  simple  expression  of  his  feel- 
ings, which,  at  my  request,  was  at  the  time 
committed  to  paper :  "  Although  I  feel  very  ill, 
I  am  very  happy  ;  and  how  thankful  I  ought  to 
be  to  God  for  bringing  me  home  to  friends 
whose  conversation  on  religious  subjects  gives 
me  such  comfort.  I  often  ask  myself  where  I 
should  have  been  if  I  had  been  cut  off  in  my 
sins ;  and  I  feel  thankful  for  this  sickness,  as  it 
has  brought  me  to  think  of  eternity.  0  how 
hard  the  human  heart  is !  We  see  many  sad 
scenes  and  awful  deaths  at  sea,  which,  for  the 
time,  make  an  impression  on  us ;  but  these  are 
very  soon  forgotten,  and  we  think  no  more  about 
them.  I  never  was  a  swearer  or  blasphemer ;  I 
have  heard  much  of  this,  but  it  made  me  shud- 
der ;  nor  was  I  ever  an  open  profligate.  All 
this  proceeded,  not  from  love  to  God,  but  from 
fear.  I  once  fancied  this  was  religion;  but  it 
was  only  morality.  If  it  please  God  to  restore 
me  to  health,  (which  I  do  not  expect,)  I  trust  I 
shall  be  enabled  to  return  to  my  profession  a 
diiferent  person  than  I  was  when  I  left  it.  When 
at  C ,  there  were  serious  impressions  on  my 


26  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

mind ;  but  when  I  returned  to  my  ship,  I  could 
♦  not  resist  the  scoffing  and  ridicule  of  my  com- 
panions." He  mentioned  also  the  great  pleasure 
he  took  in  the  quiet  hour  which  I  gave  him  after 
dinner,  when  we  read  Scripture  and  prayed ;  he 
remarked,  they  were  the  happiest  hours  he  had 
ever  spent ;  and  he  added,  with  animation,  that 
he  could  not  now  imagine  how  people  could  call 
the  subject  of  religion  gloomy,  as  it  gave  him 
such  comfort  and  delight. 

Maij  13  th. — Before  receiving  the  Lord's  sup- 
per, in  conversing  with  Rev.  Mr. ,  he  said, 

"  It  is  an  awful  thing  for  a  sinner  to  appear 
before  God  whom  he  has  long  offended."  He 
seemed  to  derive  much  comfort  from  being 
reminded  that  the  Sa\dour  who  died  for  him  was 
the  Judge  before  whom  he  was  to  appear.  The 
memorials  of  the  dying  Saviour's  love  refreshed 
his  spirit. 

He  expressed  some  very  remarkable  senti- 
ments on  the  subject  of  prayer,  which  showed 
how  very  precious  Christ  was  to  him,  and  how 
taken  up  he  was  with  a  sense  of  his  glory.  He  said 
that  he  had  been  always  in  the  habit  of  address- 
ing God  the  Father  in  prayer ;  but  he  had  been 
thinking  that,  as  Christ  was  God,  direct  prayer 
ought  to  be  made  to  him  also ;  that  he  thought 
he  was  wrong  in  not  praying  more  to  Christ. 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  27 

We  talked  over  many  of  the  instances  of  prayer 
to  Christ.  He  seemed  much  struck  with  the 
remark  that  Christ  could  not  be  overlooked 
when  the  Father  was  addressed  in  prayer,  as 
it  was  only  through  him  any  could  approach 
the  Father.  John  xiv,  6,  Eph.  ii,  18,  Heb.  vii, 
25,  also  much  struck  him,  where  the  sinner  ap- 
proaches God  ;  while  the  ability  to  save  is  rep- 
resented as  devolving  on  Christ  in  his  interces- 
sory character. 

May  IQth. — I  found  him  perusing  Romaine's 
"  Triumph  of  Faith  ;"  (the  only  human  book  he 
had  read  during  his  illness :)  he  said  he  liked  it 
greatly;  "but,"  added  he,  "there  is  nothing 
hke  the  Bible  ;  I  never  tire  of  that ;  I  never  feel 
lonely  or  weary  while  reading  it." 

After  an  absence  of  some  time,  I  found  him, 
on  my  return,  in  a  delightful  state  of  mind,  hav- 
ing evidently  made  rapid  strides  in  his  heavenly 
course,  which  is  well  described  in  a  letter,  an 
extract  from  which  is  inserted,  as  it  gives  an 
insight  into  his  state :  "  Robert  is  still  left  with 
us ;  and  though  we  should  not  be  surprised  if 
his  happy  spirit  were  to  take  its  flight  any  day, 
yet  he  may  last  some  time.  His  chief  suffering 
has  been  from  severe  cough  and  soreness  of 
throat,  and  he  labors  under  great  oppression, 
almost  amounting  to  suflfocation  ;  yet  he  is  kept 


28  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

from  acute  pain,  for  which  he  expresses  himself 
most  grateful.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  give 
you  any  idea  of  the  blissful  state  of  this  dear 
youth.  There  is  no  excitement — nothing  ap- 
proaching to  enthusiasm;  but  all  is  unvaried 
calmness  and  tranquillity.  Never,  perhaps,  did 
a  dying  believer  more  fully  exhibit  in  his  expe- 
rience the  truth  of  that  Scripture,  'Thou  wilt 
keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed 
on  thee.'  Isa.  xxvi,  3.  He  has  been  given  a  deep 
sense  of  his  own  sinfulness  in  the  sight  of  an 
infinitely  holy  God,  and,  therefore,  from  within 
himself  he  can  derive  no  material  for  comfort; 
but  it  would  do  your  heart  good  to  see  him 
raise  his  eyes  to  heaven,  and,  with  a  smile  of 
extraordinary  sweetness,  thank  God  for  the  gift 
of  his  dear  Son,  whose  finished  work  and  perfect 
righteousness  not  only  afford  him  an  assurance 
of  safety,  but  yield  an  abundant  source  of  rejoic- 
ing to  him.  His  eyesight  is  very  good,  which 
he  considers  a  great  blessing ;  for  he  is  able  to 
read  his  Bible,  which  is  never  out  of  his  reach ; 
and  he  says  that  his  sleepless  nights  are  very 
happy,  for  he  is  able,  then,  specially  to  realize 
the  promises  which  he  has  been  reading  during 
the  day.  The  following  anecdote  will  interest 
you,  and  show  his  great  love  for  the  Scriptures. 
I  was  inadvertently  taking  his  Bible  away  fi'om 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY. 


his  bed ;  and  he  said,  with  a  playful  but  very 
expressive  smile,  'Don't  take  that;  if  you  do, 
you  take  my  all !'  And,  in  truth,  that  blessed 
book  has  done  great  things  for  Robert.  He 
returned  from  sea,  I  will  not  say  ignorant  of,  or 
indifferent  to,  its  contents,  for  he  was  neither; 
but  he  knew  not  Christ  Jesus,  as  the  only  hope 
of  a  sinner;  but  now  his  acquaintance  with 
Christ,  under  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
enables  him,  even  in  the  recollection  of  all  his 
past  sins  and  imder  a  sense  of  all  his  present 
unworthiness,  to  take  up  the  triumphant  chal- 
lenge of  the  apostle,  (Rom.  viii,  33,  34,)  'Who 
shall  lay  anything  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect  ?' 
&c.,  and  this  silences  every  disturber  of  his 
peace." 

On  my  return  home,  I  noticed  that  his  "  de- 
sire to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ"  had  greatly 
increased ;  and  he  often  told  me  that  he  felt 
much  need  to  struggle  against  an  impatient 
spirit.  He  remarked  that  he  needed  patience  to 
abide  the  Lord's  own  time,  and  that  he  was 
much  assisted  in  his  conflict  by  considering  the 
patience  of  Christ,  and  his  entire  submission  to 
his  Father's  will.  A  remark  was  made,  that  it 
was  common  to  say  of  persons  in  affliction,  that 
they  were  "patient  and  resigned,"  and  that  it 
was  too  often  supposed  that  the  whole  of  religion 


30  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

consisted  in  this  frame  of  mind.  This  drew  from 
him  the  following  striking  sentiment :  "  0,  pa- 
tience and  resignation  are  great  blessings  ;  they 
make  the  sufferer  pleasant  to  himself  and  oth- 
ers ;  but  they  can  only  carry  us  to  the  grave — 
they  cannot  do  more.  Christ  must  carry  us 
beyond  it!" 

On  going  to  his  room  one  day,  as  usual,  to 
bid  him  good  night,  I  found  him  dozing,  with 
his  Bible  open  before  him,  and  his  finger  resting 
on  the  thirty-fourth  chapter  of  Ezekiel.  He 
suddenly  started,  and  said,  *'I  like  to  have  this 
blessed  book  open  before  me ;  for  I  can  only 
sleep  a  few  minutes  at  a  time,  and  when  I  open 
my  eyes  it  is  so  pleasant  to  light  upon  some 
sweet  passage;"  and  he  alluded  to  the  sheep 
and  shepherd  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  a  simile 
under  which  he  very  often  loved  to  contemplate 
the  relation  between  the  believer  and  his  Lord. 
He  mentioned,  as  a  signal  mercy,  that  his 
dreams  were  of  a  pleasant  kind ;  that  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  them  was  generally  some  portion 
of  Scripture ;  and  that,  in  sleep,  he  would  often 
pray  in  language  which  he  could  distinctly  re- 
member on  awaking. 

At  another  time  he  said  it  was  extraordinary 
how  new  light  broke  in  upon  the  believer's 
mind  as  he  advanced  ;  that,  at  first,  he  had  been 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERY.  31 

occupied,  to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else, 
"with  those  passages  of  Scripture  which  spoke  of 
the  great  salvation  which  had  been  wrought  by 
Christ ;  but  that  now  he  dwell  very  much  on 
those  which  directed  him  forAvard  to  the  resur- 
rection. Speaking  to  him  further  on  this  sub- 
ject, I  found  that  it  was  not  so  much  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body,  as  the  thought  of  being 
with  Christ  the  moment  after  death,  which  was 
his  source  of  consolation  and  rejoicing.  I  ad- 
mitted that  the  last  dying  believer  before  the 
death  of  Christ,  and  the  first  we  read  of  after 
it — the  thief  on  the  cross  and  Stephen — both 
seemed,  at  their  last  moments,  to  derive  joy  from 
the  source  whence  he  was  seeking  it ;  as  did  Sti 
Paul,  in  the  expression  of  his  desire  to  "  depart 
and  to  be  with  Christ ;"  but  that  Scripture 
abounded  with  passages  to  the  effect  that  the 
believer's  joy  was  by  no  means  completed  until 
the  reunion  of  soul  and  body.  He  replied,  with 
an  energy  beyond  what  I  thought  he  was  capa- 
ble of,  "  0,  I  know  that  the  resurrection  of  the 
body  is  a  legitimate  source  of  hope  and  comfort ; 
but  still  the  glorious  fact  of  being  with  Christ, 
and  thus  separated  forever  from  sin,  and  freed 
from  conflict,  I  consider  a  mountain  which  will 
eclipse  every  blessing  that  is  beyond  it.  My 
poor  body  has  been  such  a  hinderance  to  me,  I 


32  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

love  to  think  of  getting  rid  of  it ;  I  am  sure  that 
if  once  with  Christ,  the  redemption  of  my  body, 
and  every  other  blessing,  will  come  in  due 
course ;  but  I  love  to  allow  the  first  to  occupy 
my  whole  thoughts."  After  telling  him  that 
the  resurrection  included  this  view,  and  that  we 
should  receive  the  whole  of  what  Scripture  held 
out  to  us  for  comfort,  he  concluded,  much  ex- 
hausted, yet  very  feehngly,  "  I  have  been  but  a 
short  time  a  true  believer ;  I  have  had  time  to 
know  but  little ;  my  views  must,  therefore,  be 
very  simple  ;  and  I  feel  assured  that  to  be  with 
Christ  includes  every  blessing  which  follows  it." 

August  8th. — He  broke  a  long  silence  by  say- 
ing, "  What  a  free  gift  it  is !  We  are  apt  to 
think  God  is  love,  only  on  account  of  Christ. 
Christ  Avas  the  gift  of  his  love."  He  dwelt  on 
God's  pardoning  and  pitying  for  his  own  name's 
sake,  when  he  could  see  nothing  in  the  sinner  to 
induce  him  to  do  so,  and  pointed  to  Ezek. 
XXX vi,  22. 

On  a  Sunday,  he  said  he  never  was  so  much 
struck  before,  that  the  day  was  a  type  of  eternal 
rest.  On  some  remark  being  made  on  the  sub- 
mission of  Christ  to  his  Father's  will,  he  replied, 
"  If  we  could  always  keep  Christ  before  the 
mind,  we  should  find  all  in  him :  humility — pa- 
tience— love  " — dwelling  on  each  word,  until,  at 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  33 

last,  his  voice  failed  him.  Again  he  said,  at  the 
prospect  of  beholding  Christ,  *'  It  is  a  glorious 
rest  for  creatures  such  as  we  are ;  it  seems  al- 
most too  wonderful,  but  it  is  all  for  his  glory  ,* 
if  it  were  not  so,  it  could  not  be  !" 

He  wrote  the  following  letter  to  a  brother, 
about  whose  spiritual  welfare  he  often  expressed 
himself  much  interested : — 

''I  thought  you  might  be  pleased  to  see  the 
handwriting  of  your  dying  brother;  I  cannot 
write  much  ;  but  what  I  would  say  is,  think  of 
the  love  of  God.  See  it  in  me  ;  he  has  pardoned 
me,  and,  in  my  dying  hour,  has  given  rae  a 
knowledge  of  Christ.  0,  do  n't  be  like  me  and 
wait  for  sickness  ;  begin  at  once  and  glorify  him. 
I  thought,  once,  that  I  could  not  be  a  sailor  and 
a  Christian ;  but,  dearest  brother,  you  can  be 
both  a  soldier  of  Christ  and  a  soldier  of  your 
country.     Good-by  ;  God  bless  you !" 

August  30th. — For  many  days  he  has  been 
hardly  able  to  articulate,  his  throat  being  in- 
tensely sore,  and  his  cough  and  every  other 
symptom  much  aggravated  ;  and  we  often  leaned 
over  his  bed,  eager  to  catch  what  we  conceived 
would  be  his  last  word. 

At  all  time^  even  when  under  his  greatest 
sufferings  and  oppression,  he  would  sweetly 
smile  an  affirmative  to  the  inquiiy  if  he  was  in 


34  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

"  perfect  peace."  He  said  that  he  had  been 
thinking  of  "the  wretched  creature  possessed 
with  devils  whom  Jesus  had  cured,  and  who 
wished  to  be  with  him ;  but  Jesus  sent  him 
away,  and  told  him  to  go  back  to  his  friends," 
&c.  He  thought  he  could  apply  this  to  his  own 
wish  to  be  with  Christ ;  but  Jesus  told  him,  as 
it  were,  still  to  stay  a  while  here  with  his  friends, 
to  tell  them  "  how  great  things  "  the  Lord  had 
done  for  him.  In  the  evening,  on  being  asked 
if  he  was  in  perfect  peace,  he  said,  "Yes;  but 
my  thoughts  are  weak  ;  my  body  is  a  burden." 

For  some  days  before  his  death  he  suffered 
much  from  a  sore  on  his  back,  caused  by  fric- 
tion ;  his  agony  during  the  dressing  of  this  was 
extreme.  On  one  occasion  he  could  not,  for  a 
moment,  refrain  from  showing  his  uneasiness ;  he 
soon,  however,  rallied,  and  when  he  had  in  some 
measure  recovered  himself,  he  sent  for  me,  and 
requested  me  to  pray  with  him  and  for  him  ; 
evidently  flying  to  prayer  as  an  oft-tried  and 
never-failing  resource,  when  the  pressure  of  his 
poor  body  bore  heavily  on  his  mind. 

A  verse  which  had,  throughout  his  illness, 
yielded  him  much  comfort  and  support,  was  now 
a  rich  treasury  of  both  to  him :  "  He  knoweth 
our  frame ;  he  remembereth  that  we  are  dust." 
Psa.  ciii,  14.     This  often  cheered  his  drooping 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  35 

spirit,  weighed  down  beneath  the  burden  of  the 
flesh.  As  his  end  approached,  he  looked  for- 
ward with  much  anxiety  for  the  day  on  which 
the  doctor  was  to  visit  him.  When  he  had  last 
seen  him,  he  received,  with  very  evident  sorrow, 
the  opinion  that  he  might  last  for  weeks ;  but  his 
disease  had  taken  such  a  turn  since  then,  that  he 
expected  to  hear  much  more  welcome  tidings  on 
his  next  visit.  After  the  interview  was  over, 
he  asked  me  the  doctor's  opinion ;  and  when 
I  announced  to  him  that  he  thought  he  could 
not  last  many  days,  and  that  he  considered 
this  his  farewell  visit,  he  exclaimed,  "0,  de- 
lightful !" 

On  Sunday,  the  12  th  of  September,  (the  day 
preceding  his  death,)  he  several  times  put  out 
his  arm  to  me  to  feel  his  pulse,  accompanied  by 
an  anxious  "Well,  will  it  be  long?"  The 
oppression  on  his  bodily  frame  almost  over- 
whelmed him ;  he  ceased  to  expectorate,  and 
gasped  for  breath,  the  failure  of  which  seemed 
now  to  constitute  his  chief  suffering,  w^hich  was 
veiy  great.  He  requested  that  the  servants, 
who  had  come  to  bid  him  farewell,  should  kneel 

down  and  join  in  prayer.     Seeing crying, 

he  said,  "  You  must  not  cry,  you  must  not ;  we 
shall  meet  again  :"  and,  several  times  during  the 
cveninof,  a  smile  would  invite  one  after  another 


3G  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

of  US  to  his  bedside,  that  he  might  press  our 
hands  in  his.  ^  . 

We  did  not  expect  him  to  outlive  this  day. 
Late  at  night  it  was  said  to  him,  "  He  will  never 
leave  you."  "  No !"  he  replied,  "  I  am  sure  he 
never  will."  About  midnight,  I  asked  him  if  he 
was  enabled  to  look  to  Christ  alone.  He  an- 
swered, (and  they  were  his  dying  words,)  "  To 

WHOM    ELSE    CAN     I     LOOK?      I     HAVE     NO     ONE 
ELSE  !" 

The  agonies  of  death  commenced  at  about 
half-past  twelve  ;  he  put  out  his  arm  for  me  to 
feel  his  pulse  ;  I  told  him  it  would  soon  be  over. 
By  a  great  effort,  he  partially  raised  himself  for- 
ward ;  and  then  followed  the  farewell  scene  be- 
tween the  dying  saint  and  those  to  whom  he  had 
become  inexpressibly  dear.  His  calmness  and 
perfect  collectedness  were  astonishing ;  but  these 
were  quite  in  character  with  the  whole  of  his 
deportment  throughout  his  long  illness.  He  cast 
his  eyes  around  the  room ;  and  as  soon  as  they 

rested  upon  D ,  who  had  been  his  greatest 

earthly  comfort  during  his  illness,  a  peaceful 
smile  irradiated  his  countenance,  seeming  to  dis- 
sipate the  gloom  which  approaching  dissolution 
had  cast  on  it.  It  invited  her  to  receive  his 
farewell,  and,  doubtless,  though  unexpressed,  his 
blessing.     I  took  her  place  next,  and  was  fol- 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  37 

lowed  by  a  brother  whom  he  dearly  and  justly 
loved,  on  being  similarly  invited  by  him.  But 
perhaps  the  most  touching  scene  was  the  sum- 
mons, to  his  bedside,  of  one  of  his  attendants, 
who  had  greatly  endeared  himself  to  him  by  his 
imremitting  and  affectionate  care,  and  who  had 
attracted  his  notice,  and  greatly  excited  his  inter- 
est, by  his  frequent  and  attentive  perusal  of  the 
Bible  during  the  night-watches.  To  this  servant 
he  had,  some  days  before,  given  his  Bible,  saying 
that  it  was  the  richest  treasure  he  could  leave 
him,  and  that  he  had  seen  how  it  had  supported 
him  in  the  hour  of  trial. 

After  an  affectionate  farewell  to  his  other 
attached  attendant,  he  evidently  bade  adieu  to 
this  world  and  all  things  therein.  His  intellect 
remained  perfect  until  his  last  half  hour.  This 
was  evidenced  by  his  joyous  smile  and  nod  of 
assent,  when  asked  as  to  his  peace.  But,  from 
the  moment  he  had  taken  his  last  farewell  of  us, 
everything  here  below  was  manifestly  dismissed 
from  his  mind.  The  last  was  a  solemn  moment 
never  to  be  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed 
it,  all  kneeling  near  his  bed.  As  long  as  intel- 
lect remained,  his  uplifted  eye  showed  that  in 
prayer  he  found  his  refuge.  After  much  con- 
vulsion in  the  upper  part  of  his  frame,  he  became 
perfectly   quiet;    his   countenance    assumed    a 


38  REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

placid  expression  ;  and  after  a  few  sighs,  with 
considerable  intervals  between  them,  his  long- 
cherished  wish  was  gratified— the  earnest  and 
oft-repeated  prayer  of  his  soul  was  answered. 
At  a  quarter  past  two,  on  the  morning  of  Sep- 
tember 13,  1841,  he  fell  asleep— he  was  with 
Jesus ! 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERY.  39 


THE  CRIPPLED  SAILOR. 


Charles  E was  born  in  a  small  village  in 

Suffolk,  England,  in  1804.  At  that  time  his 
father  was  a  sailor ;  but  when  peace  was  pro- 
claimed he  lived  on  shore,  and  got  employment 
in  farm  work.  At  the  age  of  about  fourteen, 
tlie  lad  began  a  seafaring  life  ;  and  by  the  time 
he  was  twenty  he  had  made  several  long  voyages. 
In  the  winter  of  1826  he  sailed  on  a  voyago 
to  the  Mediterranean,  in  the  brig  "  Rapid." 
All  went  on  well  till  she  reached  the  Gulf  of 
Lyons,  when  an  event  occurred  which  nearly 
cost  the  young  man  his  life.  It  was  blowing  a 
smart  gale,  and  the  brig  was  scudding  under 
two  double-reefed  topsails.  The  watch  on  deck 
were  all  asleep,  except  the  man  at  the  helm, 
when,  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  they 
were  roused  by  the  loud  cry  of  Charles,  who 
had  fallen  overboard.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
alarm  was  given  all  over  the  vessel,  but  before 
anything  could  be  done  the  struggling  sailor  was 


40  ItEMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

left  a  great  distance  astern.  The  captain,  at  the 
first  alarm,  ordered  the  ship  to  be  put  about; 
and  when  he  thought  they  were  far  enough  to 
windward,  he  tacked  again,  ordered  the  long- 
boat to  be  cleared,  and  hung  lights  over  the  bow 
of  the  brig,  hoping  that,  if  the  poor  man  was 
still  afloat,  he  might  see  them  and  make  toward 
them.  And  so  it  turned  out ;  for  shortly  after- 
ward he  hailed,  and  called  out  to  them  not  to 
run  over  him.  The  long-boat  was  then  lowered 
and  manned ;  but  the  night  being  very  dark,  with 
a  heavy  sea  running,  nothing  could  be  heard  or 
seen  of  the  man  for  some  time,  till  he  called  out 
again  to  them  in  the  boat  not  to  strike  him  with 
their  oars,  for  he  was  quite  near  them.  Even  then 
it  was  long  before  he  was  rescued  ;  for  when  at 
length  they  caught  sight  of  him  and  were  about 
to  lay  hold  of  him,  a  wave  came  and  washed 
him  away  to  a  great  distance,  and  this  happened 
again  and  again  ;  but  as  he  was  known  to  be  an 
excellent  swimmer,  the  sailors  did  not  despair 
of  saving  him  ;  and,  after  great  trouble  and  ex- 
ertion, he  was  picked  up  almost  exhausted,  hav- 
ing been  in  the  water  an  hour  and  twenty 
minutes. 

It  was  a  great  wonder  to  all  how  his  strength 
could  have  lasted  so  long,  for  when  he  fell  over- 
board he  was  very  heavily  dressed  in  a  thick  pea- 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERV.  41 

jacket;  but  while  in  the  water  he  managed  to 
pull  oflf  his  jacket  and  trowsers  and  shoes,  which 
enabled  him  to  keep  afloat  much  better  than 
with  them  on.  Still  it  was  a  great  wonder,  and 
only  by  the  mercy  of  Divine  Providence,  that  he 
was  saved  at  this  time ;  and  yet  he  did  not  re- 
gard God  as  his  deliverer,  but  attributed  his 
rescue  entirely  to  the  exertions  of  the  captain 
and  crew,  and  his  own  superiority  in  swimming ; 
at  this  time  God  was  not  in  all  his  thoughts,  nor 
indeed  in  any  of  them.  He  had  long  been  a 
hater  of  the  Bible,  and  had  given  himself  up  to 
all  the  follies  and  vices  to  which  sailors  are  par- 
ticularly tempted.  It  was  with  him  as  it  is 
with  multitudes  besides,  who,  as  the  psalmist 
says  in  the  107th  Psalm,  "  go  down  to  the  sea  in 
ships,  and  do  business  in  the  great  waters  ;  these 
see  the  works  of  the  Lord,  and  his  wonders  in 
the  deep;"  yet  they  do  not  "  praise  the  Lord  for 
his  goodness,  and  for  his  wonderful  works  to  the 
children  of  men." 

It  was  some  time  after  this  accident,  and  when 
he  had  come  home  from  that  voyage,  that  he 
met  his  old  captain  in  London,  and  was  prevailed 
on  to  accompany  him  again  to  the  Mediterranean ; 

but  on  the  passage  out  Charles  E fell  ill ; 

and  on  the  vessel  arriving  at  Trieste,  he  was  con- 
veyed to  the  hospital.     His  condition  there  was 


42  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

very  wretched  ;  so  that  he  made  several  unsuc- 
cessful attempts  to  escape,  ill  as  he  was,  and 
regain  his  ship.  At  length,  hearing  that  the 
ship  was  about  to  sail,  and  that  he  was  to  be  left 
behind,  he  made  his  escape,  and  in  a  fit  of  des- 
peration, swam  off  to  the  vessel,  and  reached  it 
just  previous  to  her  weighing  anchor :  he  was, 
therefore,  of  necessity  brought  back  to  England, 
and  remained  in  London  until  he  regained  his 
health. 

Shortly  afterward  he  embarked  for  the  Bra- 
zils, and  while  there  deserted  his  vessel,  on  ac- 
count of  bad  usage  from  his  officers  ;  and  fearing 
to  seek  another  berth  in  that  port,  lest  he  should 
be  discovered,  he  formed  a  resolution,  destitute 
as  he  was  of  both  money  and  clothes,  and  igno- 
rant of  the  country,  to  travel  to  another  port, 
five  hundred  miles  distant.  After  making  some 
inquiry,  as  secretly  as  he  could,  respecting  the 
route  he  must  take,  he  began  his  toilsome  jour- 
ney ;  but  he  soon  repented  of  his  rash  under- 
taking, and  had  he  not  dreaded  the  derision  of 
his  former  shipmates,  he  would  have  returned  to 
his  ship  ;  but  looking  upon  death  itself  as  more 
welcome  than  this,  he  persevered. 

The  first  part  of  the  journey  lay  across  the 
country,  where  he  was  exposed  to  continual  and 
imminent  danger  from  wild  beasts  and  venomous 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  48 

reptiles,  against  which  he  had  no  means  of  de- 
fense; but  from  these  he  was  mercifully  pre- 
served. This,  however,  was  not  the  only,  nor 
perhaps  the  chief  evil  the  wanderer  had  reason 
to  apprehend.  His  sufferings  from  fatigue  and 
hunger  were  often  intense.  The  only  food  he 
could  obtain  was  such  as  could  be  gathered  from 
the  bushes,  and  now  and  then  a  cocoa-nut.  On 
one  occasion,  when  much  pressed  by  hunger,  he 
saw  a  cocoa-nut  tree  at  some  distance,  and  has- 
tened to  the  spot.  It  was  with  difficulty  that 
he  could  climb  the  tree,  so  weak  was  he  with  his 
previous  exertions  and  privations ;  and  when  at 
length  he  reached  the  fruit,  he  had  scarcely 
power  to  break  oflf  a  single  nut  from  the  stalky 
At  length,  however,  he  succeeded,  and  secured 
his  prize.  The  poor  wanderer  had  to  carry  it 
some  miles  before  he  could  find  a  stone  large 
enough  to  bruise  and  remove  the  husk  of  the 
nut,  and  to  break  its  hard  shell ;  and  then  what 
was  his  agony  at  finding  the  shell  empty  ! 

Still  he  passed  on,  occasional  1)'^  obtaining  relief 
from  the  natives  of  the  country ;  and  after  wan- 
dering nearly  three  weeks,  scarcely  knowing 
whither,  he  reached  the  sea-shore.  The  sight 
of  land  to  a  weather-beaten  mariner,  after  a  long 
and  dangerous  voyage,  is  not  more  welcome  than 
was  this  prospect  to  Charles  E .     Though 


44  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

still  far  from  the  port  to  which  his  steps  were 
directed,  he  had  now  a  sure  direction  toward  it ; 
besides  this,  he  frequently  fell  in  with  fishermen, 
who  relieved  him,  and  lodged  him  at  night. 

At  length,  when  not  many  miles  distant  from 
his  port,  the  progress  of  the  wanderer  was  un- 
expectedly barred,  and  his  hopes  frustrated,  by 
a  river  nearly  three  miles  in  width,  which  there 
liowed  into  the  sea.  If  he  had,  at  this  time, 
possessed  but  half  the  strength  and  power  of 
endurance  which  supported  him  in  the  Gulf  of 
Lyons,  this  river  would  have  been  but  a  slight 
hinderance ;  but  exhausted  with  extreme  toil,  and 
the  effects  of  privation,  he  could  do  nothing  but 
sit  down  on  the  river's  bank  almost  in  despair. 
After  waiting  three  days  for  means  to  cross,  a 
native  passing  by  on  a  raft  was  prevailed  upon 
to  convey  him  to  the  opposite  bank.  A  few 
hours  afterward,  and  the  perilous  journey  was 
safely  finished. 

The  sailor's  sufferings  were  not,  however, 
then  ended.  Instead  of  being  able  to  sail  imme- 
diately from  that  port,  as  he  had  hoped,  he  was 
seized  with  a  severe  illness,  and  for  nearly  two 
months  was  dayly  expecting  to  die.  But  the 
same  kind  and  gracious  Providence  which  had 
watched  over  him  in  his  wanderings,  and  deliv- 
ered him  from  destruction,  still  provided  for  his 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  45 

sustenance  and  recovery.  The  people  of  the 
town  had  compassion  on  the  perishing  stranger, 
and  suppUed  him,  without  prospect  of  recom- 
pense, with  food  and'  shelter ;  and,  by  the  bless- 
ing of  God  on  this  disinterested  kindness,  health 
and  strength  slowly  returned. 

No  salutary  impressions  appear  to  have  been 

made  upon  the  soul  of  Charles  E by  all  that 

he  had  now  passed  through.  He  could  feel,  and 
afterward  recount  with  gratitude,  the  kindness  of 
these  strangers ;  but  he  felt  no  thankfulness  to 
the  Giver  of  all  his  mercies,  his  Preserver  and 
bountiful  Benefactor.  He  was  yet  far  from  God, 
though  God  was  "nigh  unto"  him.  Are  you, 
reader,  in  a  like  position  ? 

In  course  of  time  he  was  enabled  to  leave  the 
country  where  he  had  passed  through  many 
dangers,  and  experienced  many  mercies,  and 
worked  his  way  to  India ;  thence,  after  serving 
for  some  time  on  board  a  man-of-war,  he  returned 
to  England,  shattered  in  health,  and  still  hard- 
ened in  heart  against  God. 

At  Sheerness,  the  crew  of  the  ship  in  which  he 
had  sailed  was  paid  otf,  and  he  took  a  passage 
to  London  in  a  packet-boat,  intending  to  return 
to  his  native  place  to  recruit  his  health  and  see 
his  relations.  Having  no  confidence  in  his  own 
prudence,  and  fearing  that  if  he  retained  in  his 


46  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

own  possession  the  money  he  had  received  as 
wages,  it  would  be  squandered  in  "  the  pleasures 
of  sin,"  he  intrusted  it  to  a  shipmate.  This  man 
deceived  him  and  disappeared,  and  the  poor 
sailor  reached  London  almost  penniless,  after 
3'^ears  of  toil  and  privation. 

To  add  to  his  distress,  he  was  again  seized  with 
illness,  and  unable  to  return  home ;  he  gained 
admittance  into  the  Dreadnought  hospital-ship, 
where  he  continued  a  year  and  a  half,  until  he 
was  pronounced  to  be  incurable.  Even  then  the 
poor  and  destitute  sailor  had  no  proper  concep- 
tion of  that  far  more  dreadful,  and,  though  not 
incurable,  hitherto  uncured  soul-disease  with 
which  he  was  afflicted,  and  for  which  only  one 
remedy  can  be  found.  He  believed  that  his 
body  was  at  the  point  of  death,  but  that  his  soul 
was  on  the  brink  of  eternal  death  appears  to 
have  given  him  no  real  concern.  He  longed  to 
return  home  to  his  native  village  to  die ;  and 
though  for  years  he  had  neglected  to  write  to  his 
friends,  so  that  they  supposed  him  already  dead, 
he  now  made  known  his  wishes  to  them.  Great 
was  their  joy  (though  it  was  joy  mingled  with  sor- 
row) to  know  that  he,  whom  they  had  mourned 
as  dead,  was  yet  alive ;  and,  though  in  circum- 
stances of  poverty  themselves,  they  contrived  to 
send  sufficient  money  to  him  to  bear  his  charges 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  47 

homeward,  where  he  arrived  after  an  absence 
of  more  than  ten  years. 

The  wanderer's  native  air,  and  the  kind  atten- 
tions of  his  relatives,  did  more  for  him  tlian 
medicine  had  done.  He  recovered  his  health  so 
as  to  be  able,  two  years  after  his  return  home, 
to  go  again  to  sea.  Some  time  after  this  he 
married.  But  he  was  yet  to  be  the  sport  of 
winds  and  waves ;  or  rather,  he  was  to  be  led 
through  other  dangers  and  hair-breadth  escapes, 
that  in  the  end  he  might  be  brought  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  himself  as  a  rebel  against  God,  and  of 
Christ  as  a  great  and  merciful  Saviour.  And  it 
ij  thus  that  the  wise  and  gracious  God  often 
leads  men  by  a  way  that  **  they  know  not,"  and 
a  way  which  they  would  not  have  chosen,  but 
which,  at  length,  they  find  to  have  been  "  a 
right  way." 

Some  time  after  he  had  again  gone  to  sea, 
when  returning  from  a  voyage,  and  within  a  few 
hours*  sail  of  port,  a  heavy  squall  of  wind  struck 
the  vessel,  and  snapped  the  foremast,  so  as  to 
tear  up  the  deck,  and  the  whole  crew  were 
thrown  into  sudden  confusion.  As  speedily  as 
possible  the  wreck  was  cleared  ;  but  the  sea  ran 
high,  and  the  wind  continued  to  blow  Avith  fury, 
so  that  the  crew  Avere  in  great  peril,  for  the 
vessel  labored  heavily,  and  shipped  much  water. 


48  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

In  a  few  hours  almost  everything  on  deck  was 
washed  away — boat,  cook-house,  bulwarks,  and 
stanchions ;  and  in  this  condition,  with  an  almost 
unmanageable  wreck,  and  the  storm  still  raging, 
the  crew  were  dismayed  at  discovering  break- 
ers ahead,  and  land  at  no  great  distance.  With 
great  difficulty  the  anchors  were  let  go,  and 
then  the  remaining  mast  was  cut  away;  but 
death  seemed  inevitable  to  all  on  board.  In  this 
extremity,  however,  they  were  delivered  from 
their  fears.  The  wrecked  vessel  still  floated, 
and  she  was^  kept  from  striking  on  the  rocks, 
which  every  minute  threatened  her  destruction. 
After  three  days  of  fearful  suspense,  the  storm 
abated,  and  a  steamer  was  sent  out  to  their 
rescue. 

During  the  whole  of  this  critical  and  anxious 

time,  Charles  E was  perhaps  the  only  one 

on  board  who  expressed  no  alarm,  and  gave  no 
token  of  a  desire  to  be  saved  from  the  \dolent 
death  which  seemed  so  near  to  all.  He  exerted 
himself,  indeed,  so  strenuously  that  his  strength 
gave  way,  and  he  became,  for  the  following 
three  years,  a  helpless  invalid ;  but  to  these  ex- 
ertions he  was  not  driven  by  fear:  so  far  from 
this,  he  declared  to  his  shipmates,  during  the 
storm,  that  if  the  ship  went  down,  he  should 
make  no  effort  to  save  himself;  and  that,  for  his 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  49 

part,  he  was  perfectly  indifferent  as  to  whether 
she  rode  out  the  gale  or  not.  Frequently,  in 
subsequent  dangers,  while  priding  himself  on 
doing  his  duty  to  the  owners  of  the  vessels  in 
which  he  sailed,  he  showed  the  same  indifference 
to  life  or  death.  On  one  occasion  especially, 
Avhen,  as  in  the  present  case,  all  hope  seemed 
lost,  he  professed  himself  very  little  concerned 
about  his  own  safety,  saying  that  if  putting  out 
a  hand  would  save  him,  he  would  not  trouble 
himself  to  do  it.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for 
such  insensibility  as  this  ;  but  it  is  certain  that 

Charles  E was,  at  these  times,  hardened  by 

the  deceitfulness  of  sin  ;  and,  being  reckless  of 
consequences,  he  cared  but  httle  how  soon  his 
life  was  ended. 

It  would  take  long  to  recount  all  the  ad- 
ventures this  sailor  passed  through,  and  the 
many  great  dangers  in  which  his  life  was  pre- 
served, indifferent  as  he  was  to  its  preservation. 
Having  been  offered  the  command  of  a  small 
trading  vessel,  for  which  his  former  experience 
had  well  fitted  him,  he  undertook  it,  and  held 
the  appointment  for  several  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  he  met  with  an  accident  which  en- 
tirely disabled  him  for  further  service.  His 
small  vessel  coming  in  contact,  at  night,  with  a 
large  brig,  the  violent  shock  of  the  colhsion 
4 


50  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

knocked  him  down,  and  so  injured  his  spine  that 
thenceforward,  as  he  said,  "his  deatli^ warrant 
seemed  sealed."  It  was  indeed  strange  that  he 
or  any  of  his  small,  crew  were  saved  to  tell  of 
the  disaster  of  that  night ;  hut  they  were  ena- 
bled to  get  their  vessel  into  port,  while  the 
larger  and  stronger  brig  received  such  damage 
by  the  shock  as  shortly  afterward  to  sink.  He 
reached  home  crippled  and  hopeless  of  re- 
covery. 

He  was  at  this  time  about  forty-three  years 
old ;  but  the  various  hardships  of  his  life,  and 
the  sufferings  he  had  endured,  had  long  since 
robbed  him  of  the  vigor  of  youth,  while  the  last 
stroke  had  produced  more  than  the  decrepitude 
of  age.  For  some  time,  indeed,  he  kept  his 
bed  entirely ;  by  degrees  he  gathered  sufficient 
strength  to  sit  up  a  few  hours  in  the  day,  and 
at  length,  by  the  aid  of  a  stick,  to  walk  a  short 
distance  from  his  home.  But  regardless  alike  of 
judgment  and  mercy,  the  disabled  seaman  was 
an  enemy  to  God,  and  a  derider  of  the  way  of 
salvation,  as  revealed  in  the  Bible— without 
Christ,  without  hope. 

A  few  years  ago,  Mr.  V ,  a  home  mission- 
ary, was  informed  that  a  poor  crippled  sailor  was 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  51 

living  in  the  town  in  which  he  labored ;  and  some 
accounts  which  he  received  induced  him  to  seek 
the  man's  acquaintance.  This  crippled  sailor  was 
Charles  E . 

Several  attempts  to  obtain  this  acquaintance 

were  made  by  Mr.  V in  vain.     It  was  the 

avowed  belief  of  Charles  E that   all   the 

ministers  of  religion  w^ere  either  hypocrites  or 
enthusiasts,  and  that  the  Bible  was  a  fable ;  and 
he  determined  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  either 
the  one  or  the  other.  His  wife,  and  the  family 
with  whom  they  resided,  begged  him  to  receive 
the  visits  of  the  missionary ;  but  many  weeks 
passed  before  he  yielded  to  their  wishes,  and 
then  it  was  with  an  evident  determination  to  re- 
sist all  attempts  for  his  spiritual  welfare.  Never- 
theless, he  allowed  the  Scriptures  to  be  read,  and 
prayer  to  be  offered  in  his  apartment. 

By  slow  degrees,  and  after  many  visits,  the 
missionary  so  far  gained  the  confidence  of  the 
poor  invalid  as  to  induce  him  freely  to  converse 
on  his  past  life,  and  on  the  feelings  of  his  mind 
with  respect  to  religion.  On  this  latter  point  he 
spoke  with  great  reserve  and  caution,  occasion- 
ally giving  utterance  to  those  common-place 
objections  to  Christianity  which  have  again  and 
again  been  satisfactorily  answered  by  its  fol- 
lowers.    After  some  montlis'  acquaintance  with 


52  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

Hy^  Y ^  however,  he  became  more  open  and 

unreserved,  and  began  apparently  to  take  pleas- 
ure in  asking  a  variety  of  questions  about  the 
Bible ;  but  evidently  with  a  wish  to  puzzle  his 
visitor,  and  obtain  a  momentary  triumph  over 
him,  and  not  with  a  desire  of  finding  the  truth. 

Mr.  V •  then  loaned   the  crippled   seaman 

several  books  which  he  thought  adapted  to  re- 
move doubts,  and  to  furnish  materials  for  con- 
sideration, accompanying  the  loan  with  earnest 
prayer  that  the  eternal  Spirit  of  truth  would 
sanctify  the  reading  of  these  volumes,  and  make 
them  the  means  of  enlightening  the  poor  man's 
soul. 

The  circumstances  in  which  the  sailor  was 
now  placed  were  so  far  favorable  as  to  give  him 
ample  time  for  reflection.  It  was  evident  to 
himself,  and  to  all  around  him,  that  death  could 
not  be  very  far  distant;  and  probably  it  was 
with  more  solicitude  than  he  cared  to  express, 
that  he  entered  upon  the  studies  which,  until 
now,  he  would  have  repulsed  with  disdain. 
There  are  very  few  indeed  who  so  completely 
disbelieve  the  Bible  as  to  have  no  fears  lest,  after 
all,  it  may  be  true  ;  and  who  cannot,  consequent- 
ly, look  death  in  the  face  with  entire  composure ; 
and  though,  in  times  of  danger,  and  when  ac- 
tively employed  in  devising  means  for  meeting 


OF    MORAL    KECOVERY.  53 

it,  this  man  had  been  remarkably  unconcerned 
about  the  future,  it  is  not  imlikelj  that  now  he 
would  have  been  glad  of  some  satisfactory  evi- 
dence that  his  principles  were  safe  and  immova- 
ble. Reader,  are  you  one  of  those  who  make  a 
boast  of  infidehty,  and  profess  to  look  upon  the 
Bible  with  contempt  ?  Permit  us,  in  all  kind- 
ness, to  ask,  first — Are  you  really  acquainted 
with  its  contents  ?  and  next — Have  you  no  un- 
welcome and  lurking  suspicion  that,  after  all,  it 
may  be  true  ?     And  if  it  be  true — what  then  ? 

Whatever  were  his  secret  thoughts,  the  sailor 
read  the  books  which  had  been  loaned  him  by 
his  Christian  visitor ;  and  the  more  he  read,  the 
less  was  there  of  the  air  of  defiance  which  had 
marked  all  his  previous  intercourse.     Especially 

did  this  disappear  when  Mr.  V spoke  to 

him  of  the  love  of  Christ.  When  this  subject 
was  introduced,  the  poor  invalid  began  to  listen 
with  eagerness  and  emotion ;  and  ere  long,  the 
tone,  manner,  and  earnestness  of  his  questions 
were  changed  from  those  of  exulting  skepticism 
to  apparently  genuine  anxiety  to  knoAv  the  truth. 

But  the  man  who  has  willfully  hardened  him- 
self against  the  mercies  of  God,  and  resolutely 
given  himself  up  to  a  determination  to  disbelieve, 
if  possible,  the  gospel  of  his  grace,  may  find  it 
hard  to  bear  up  against  the  current  of  infidelity. 


54  REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

even  when  lie  discovers  that  it  is  carrying  him 
onward,  with  fearful  rapidity,  to  wretchedness 
and  despair.     It  was  so  with  this  man. 

"  I  would  give  the  world,"  said  he  passionate- 
ly, "  if  I  could  believe ;  but  my  wretched  heart 
is  as  hard  as  a  stone  !  Do  you  think,"  he  added, 
inquiringly,  "  that  a  man  can  believe  what  and 
when  he  pleases?" 

He  was  told  by  his  visitor,  in  reply,  that  there 
is  in  the  Scriptures  such  internal  evidence  of 
their  truth  as  to  command  the  belief  of  every 
sincere  inquirer;  and  that,  if  he  were  sincere 
and  earnest  in  his  desire  for  the  cordial  reception 
of  the  truth,  his  doubts  would  be  removed,  see- 
ing that  Christ  himself  declared,  "  If  any  man 
will  do  h^s  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God." 

While  the  sailor's  mind  was  in  this  state  of 
doubtful  obscurity  and  painful  toil,  seeking  for 
light  and  rest,  but  perplexed  and  harassed  by 
those  skeptical  thoughts  which  he  had  once 
courted  and  harbored,  a  Christian  lady  visited 
the  town  for  the  benefit  of  her  health.  Mindful, 
however,  of  the  higher  concerns  of  another 
world,  and  desirous  of  attempting  something 
for  her  heavenly  Master,  even  while  among 
strangers,  she  turned  her  attention  to  the  abodes 
of  poverty,  sorrow,  and  sickness,  and  thus  was 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  55 

introduced  to  the  crippled  sailor.  The  state  of 
his  mind — trembling,  as  it  seemed,  between  hope 
and  apprehension,  faith  and  unbelief — greatly  in- 
terested her;  and  to  impart  the  information 
which  he  needed,  she  loaned  him  "  Newton  on 
the  Prophecies." 

The  first  volume  was  read  with  apparently 
little  effect ;  but  after  entering  on  the  second 
^'olume,  his  attention  was  arrested,  light  broke  in 
upon  his  mind,  and  diligently  comparing  what 
he  read  with  the  Scriptures  themselves,  every 
previous  doubt  of  their  divine  inspiration  van- 
ished. His  mind  being  thus  convinced,  his 
former  prejudices  were  completely  dispersed, 
and  an  intense  eagerness  for  a  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  Bible  turned  him  from  every 
other  pursuit.  "  How  much — 0  how  much 
liave  I  to  do !"  was  his  frequent  exclamation ; 
*'  and  how  short  a  time  to  do  it  in!"  And  with 
these  feelings,  it  was  not  unusual  for  him  to 
employ  half  the  night  in  reading  and  searching 
for  the  truth  like  one  who  searches  for  hidden 
treasure. 

And  he  found  it ;  but  the  discovery  was  inex- 
pressibly painful.  If  the  Bible  be  true — and  of 
this  he  never  again  doubted — what  must  be  his 
own  personal  condition  ?  Guilty  and  lost !  If 
heretofore  his  I'est  had  been  broken  while  doubt- 


66  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

Ing  God's  truth,  and  seeking  intellectual  satisfac- 
tion, it  was  doubly  broken  by  the  knowledge 
which  that  very  satisfaction  had  imparted  to  his 
soul.  He  was  perishing  eternally.  His  own 
willful  blindness  and  rebellion  had  brought  him 
to  the  very  borders  of  everlasting  destruction. 
The  more  convincing  the  proofs  Avere  of  the  divine 
authenticity  of  that  book  which  all  his  life  he 
had  neglected  and  hated,  the  more  certain  was 
it  that  he,  the  neglecter  and  hater  of  the  Bible, 
was  in  a  condition  of  most  awful  danger.  He 
had  no  doubts  now ; — they  were  changed  into 
appalling  certainties. 

But  while  the  gospel  wounds,  by  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  it  heals;  and  the  heart  which 
sovereign  mercy  renews,  is  first,  by  the  same 
mercy,  broken.  If  the  sinner  be  shown  his  lost 
condition,  he  is  also  pointed  to  One  who  is  able 
to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  who  come  unto  God 
by  hira,  and  is  told  that  there  is  strong  consola- 
tion for  those  who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay  hold 
on  the  hope  set  before  them.  And  if  the  soul 
be  pressed  down  with  the  weight  of  a  burdened 
conscience,  it  is  directed  to  Him  who  says, 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy- 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  Matt,  xi,  28. 

In  the  midst  of  his  deepest  disti-ess  the  sailor 
was  not  utterly  hopeless.     His  feehngs  and  ex- 


OF    MORAL    RECOVEKY.  57 

pressions  were  something  like  those  of  one  who 
said,  "If  the  Lord  were  pleased  to  kill  us,  he 
would  not  have  showed  us  all  these  things,  nor 
would  as  at  this  time  have  told  us  such  things 

o 

as  these."  Judges  xiii,  23.  Thus  this  penitent 
sinner  could  say,  "  What  an  awful  state  men  are 
in,  and  I  among  the  worst !  But  I  can  now  see 
God's  hand  to  have  been  with  me  throughout 
ray  whole  life,  though  I  would  not  see  it  before. 
I  bless  him  that  he  would  not  let  me  perish  in 
the  midst  of  my  wickedness ;  shall  I  perish 
now — now  that  I  have  been  led  by  him  to  see 
my  guilt  and  danger,  and  to  seek  for  his  mercy  ?" 

At  length  it  was  his  happiness  to  obtain  that 
"  strong  consolation  "  which  the  gospel  alone 
can  give  ;  and  he  could  adopt  the  language  of 
the  apostle  as  his  own,  "  Being  justified  by  faith, 
we  have  peace  with  God,  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ :  by  whom  also  we  have  access  by 
faith  into  this  grace  wherein  we  stand,  and  rejoice 
in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God."  Rom.  v,  1,  2. 

The  Apostle  James  tell  us  that  "  faith  without 
works  is  dead  ;"  but  true  faith — that  which  is 
the  gift  of  God,  and  leads  the  sinner  to  Jesus, 
as  the  only  Saviour — is  always  shown  by  its 
peaceable  and  holy  effects.  The  Lord  himself 
declares  that  *'  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  John  iii,  3. 


68  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

And  when  this  change  has  been  wrought  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  man  becomes  "  a  new  creature  ; 
old  things  are  passed  away — all  things  are  be- 
come new."  2  Cor.  v,  17.     Thus  was  it  with 

Charles   E .      A   great   and   extraordinary 

change  had  taken  place  in  him,  which  filled  with 
surprise  all  who  knew  him.  In  the  place  of 
haughty  pride  they  beheld  humility.  Instead,  of 
daring  contempt  of  God's  authority  and  claims, 
they  saw  an  earnestness  to  know  and  do  his  will. 
The  mind  which  once  dehghted  in  impurity,  and 
reveled  in  the  recollection  of  past  transgressions, 
when  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  were  fulfilled,  now 
shrank  with  horror  at  the  remembrance  of  his 
former  conduct,  and  magnified  the  forbearance 
of  God  which  had  spared  so  ^ilc  a  sinner.  The 
tongue  which  once  blasphemed  was  now  em- 
ployed in  prayer  and  praise ;  and  he  who  once 
hated  the  Bible,  and  would  willingly  have  ban- 
ished it  from  the  world,  could  now  say,  with 
deep  emotion,  "  I  love  this  precious  book  more 
and  more  every  day  I  live.  I  wonder  at  my 
former  ignorance,  when  I  could  see  nothing 
right  in  it ;  but  now,  read  it  as  often  and  as  care- 
fully as  I  will,  I  can  see  nothing  wrong." 

A  few  months  more,  and  Charles  E was 

dying.  Had  he  deceived  himself,  and  had  others 
been  deceived  in  him  ?     Was  it  to  be  credited 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERT.  69 

that  after  a  long  course  of  sin  and  unbelief,  God 
would  accept  the  last  feeble  remnants  of  the 
sinner's  life  ?  Was  a  clean  heart  created  within 
him,  and  a  right  spirit  renewed  ?  Was  he  indeed 
being  made  meet  for  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints  in  light  ? — was  heaven  the  port  for  which 
he  was  bound  ?  These  weresome  of  the  ques- 
tions which  the  sailor  asked  himself  while  death 
was  advancing  upon  him  with  rapid  strides. 
And  well  might  he  solemnly  and  tremblingly 
question  himself  thus.  Happy  indeed  is  it  for 
the  sinner  who  even  at  last  seeks  and  finds 
mercy  in  God's  appointed  way  ;  but  far  happier 
is  he  who  has  in  early  life  given  himself  to  God, 
and  served  him  through  the  best  years  of  youth 
and  manhood. 

But  "  at  evening  time  "  it  was  ''  light."  Cast- 
ing his  soul  upon  the  grace  of  Christ,  trusting 
in  the  atonement  once  offered  for  sin,  and  relying 
on  the  promises  of  God's  word,  he  died  "in  hope 
of  the  glory  of  God — desiring  to  depart,  and  to 
be  with  Christ." 

"  In  looking  at  this  case,"  writes  another  mis- 
sionary, who  visited  the  sailor  while  on  his  death- 
bed, "we  are  constrained  to  say,  '  Is  not  this  a 
brand  plucked  out  of  the  fire  ?' — a  miracle  of 
sovereign  mercy?  Here  can  the  hand  of  God 
be  traced  in  the  transforming  influences  of  divine 


60  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

grace,  and  a  fresh  proof  is  given  that  our  great 
Redeemer  is  '  mighty  to  save.'  " 

Reader,  the  same  Saviour  is  still  waiting  "  to 
be  gracious;"  and  the-  language  of  heavenly- 
mercy  to  you  is,  "  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his 
way,  and  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts  :  and 
let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have 
mercy  upon  him ;  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will 
abundantly  pardon."  Isa.  Iv,  7. 


OF  MORAL  RECOVERY.  61 


THE  CONVERSION  AND  EXPERIENCE 

OP 

WILLIAM  HOWARD. 


Mr.  Howard*  was  bom  at  Westmeath,  in  Ire- 
land, in  1721.  In  early  life  he  was  intended  for 
the  ministry  ;  but  as  he  was  of  a  dissolute  turn 
of  mind,  he  soon  disappointed  the  expectations 
of  his  friends  ;  and,  after  spending  some  time  at 
the  L^niversity  in  Dublin,  he  grew  more  and 
more  abandoned  in  his  conduct.  In  1755  he 
was  Mayor  of  Drogheda,  where  he  carried  on  a 
very  extensive  business  as  a  tallow-chandler  and 
soap-boiler ;  at  the  same  time  indulging  in  the 
most  riotous  excesses.  He  was  engaged,  after 
this,  in  various  scenes  of  business  and  pleasure, 
till  May,  1772,  when,  having  spent  his  all  in 
London,  and  being  supplied  by  a  friend  with  a 
small  sum  of  money,  he  determined  to  retire 
to  some  obscure  corner  of  the  island.  Provi- 
dence directed  him  in  his  wanderings  to  North 

"  This  sketcli  is  abridged  from  a  nari'ative  by  Mil- 
ner,  the  Church  historian. 


@3  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

Ferriby,  in  Yorkshire.  Being  delighted  with 
the  situation  of  the  place,  he  lodged  at  a  pub- 
lic-house, and  continued  there  about  a  year,  un- 
known to  every  one.  He  caused  in  the  neigh- 
borhood various  speculations,  but  was  generally 
supposed,  as  was  really  the  case,  to  be  a  person 
hiding  himself  from  his  creditors.  His  moral 
conduct,  however,  appeared  not  at  all  reformed  ; 
he  frequented  every  fashionable  vanity  as  far  as 
he  was  able.  He  was,  indeed,  abstemious  in  the 
use  of  liquors ;  but  this,  he  has  since  owned, 
was  the  efifect  of  necessity,  on  account  of  his 
health.  In  other  crimes,  however,  he  was  so 
notorious  that  few  who  had  any  regard  for  their 
characters  would  dare  to  associate  with  him. 
His  conversation  was  particularly  corrupt,  and 
even  shocking  to  some  of  those  who  were  by 
no  means  remarkable  for  their  purity  of  senti- 
ment. During  this  time,  indeed,  he  was  pretty 
constant  at  church ;  but  received  no  serious  im- 
pressions till,  about  the  end  of  the  winter,  he 
happened  to  ask  his  landlord  what  advantage 
the  minister  received  for  his  attendance  at  the 
church  to  preach  on  the  week-day  once  a  fort- 
night. Being  assured  that  this  was  without  any 
emolument  he  thought,  "This  cannot  proceed 
from  the  man's  own  fancy,  nor  would  the  devil 
instigate  him  to  such  practices ;  it  must  be  the 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  63 

work  of  a  good  spirit.  I  have  hitherto  been 
used  to  despise  him  as  crazy,  but  I  will  attend, 
and  endeavor  to  understand  him  the  next  time." 
He  did  attend  accordingly,  but  his  thoughts 
were  diverted,  and  no  good  effect  ensued.  The 
next  Sabbath,  however,  was  the  time  when  it 
pleased  God  to  send  the  an-ows  of  conviction 
into  his  soul.  The  subject  of  the  discourse  was 
the  last  judgment.  He  heard  for  himself,  and 
was  so  affected  that  the  scene  appeared  to  be 
realized  before  him.  In  the  distress  which  was 
now  brought  upon  him  he  could  not  conceal  his 
emotions,  and  that  night  he  was  unable  to  sleep, 
through  fear.  For  six  weeks  after  this  he  la- 
bored, prayed,  read,  meditated,  and  was  alive  for 
eternity.  The  country  all  around  was  astonished 
at  the  outward  change  which  had  passed  upon 
him.  He  gave  up  all  his  former  evil  practices, 
could  no  longer  bear  vain  company,  and  affected 
sohtude  and  retirement. 

At  the  end  of  six  weeks  he  made  his  case 
known  to  me,  in  the  presence  of  several  others. 
The  emotions  of  his  soul  on  this  occasion  were 
past  all  description.  His  words  conveyed  very 
strong  ideas,  but  his  looks  and  gestures  much 
stronger.  His  abhorrence  of  himself  for  sin  was 
very  remarkable.  I  never  saw  in  any  one  more 
vehement  longings  for  the  grace  of  Almighty  God, 


64  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

as  he  expressed  himself.  He  declared  that 
neither  loss  of  money,  nor  anything  else,  affected 
him  in  the  least.  He  said  he  saw  from  tlie 
Scriptures  that  he  who  believeth  in  Jesus -hath 
everlasting  life  ;  but  then  he  thought  he  must 
first  get  his  heart  softened.  That  notwithstand- 
ing he  had  labored  for  softness  of  heart,  Ms  was 
more  flinty  than  any  one's  ;  that  he  had  been 
so  vile,  he  feared  God  would  not  hear  him ;  that 
he  had  formerly,  in  a  dangerous  illness,  made  a 
strong  resolution  to  be  good,  but  was  so  far  from 
keeping  it,  that  he  had  grown  more  hardened 
than  before  ;  that  he  had  noAV  reformed,  indeed, 
from  his  gross  practices,  but  was  certain  a  change 
of  heart  was  necessary ;  and,  till  he  obtained 
that,  all  his  outward  reformation  would  signify 
nothing.  To  love  God  heartily  was  what  he 
aimed  at,  but  was  at  a  loss  how  to  perform  it. 
These  and  many  other  affecting  things  he  uttered 
with  many  tears,  and  with  a  pathos  beyond  ex- 
pression. I  could  not  but  remark  in  him,  as  in 
all  who  turn  to  God,  a  very  strong  propensity 
to  self- worthiness.  I  endeavored  to  fix  his 
thoughts  on  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  to  sin- 
ners ;  and  it  was  with  difficulty  I  could  engage 
his  attention  to  this,  so  much  was  he  taken  up 
with  thouglits  concerning  the  acquisition  of  love 
to  God,  in  order  to  procure  his  favor.     It  pleased 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  65- 

God  at  length  to  give  me  the  liberty  of  uttering, 
and  him  the  spirit  of  attention  to  the  latter  part 
of  2  Cor.  V.  I  represented  to  him  the  somxe  of 
all  his  sinful  practices  in  the  corruption  of  his 
nature,  and  endeavored  to  lay  before  him  God 
in  Christ,  as  beautifully  described  in  that  pas- 
sage ;  and  in  a  solemn  manner,  in  the  name  of 
God,  invited  him  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  since 
it  appeared  to  me  that  both  God  and  he  were 
desirous  of  being  reconciled  to  each  other  ;  God 
from  l)is  own  book,  and  he  from  his  words  and 
behavior.  He  left  me  for  a  little  time  to  pause 
in  reading  the  chapter  twice  over  by  himself. 
On  his  return,  how  amazed  were  we  to  find  the 
sudden  alteration.  He  said  he  had  now  attained 
that  particular  softness  of  heart,  and  love  to 
God,  which  he  had  wanted;  that  it  was  the 
view  of  God  in  Christ  which  had  given  it 
him.  He  was  sure  that  the  Holy  Ghost  had  re- 
vealed the  redeeming  love  of  Christ  to  his  soul ; 
that  he  was  now  completely  happy ;  that  he 
had  been  on  a  wrong  track,  and  never  saw  the 
way  till  now.  The  fear  of  wrath  being  now 
quite  gone,  he  loved  God  more  than  he  could 
express. 

Diudng  this  scene,  the  story  of  the  woman  in 
the  seventh  chapter  of  St.  Luke,  who  had  been 
forgiven  much,  being  mentioned,  he  was  in  such 
5 


60  BEMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

a  joyful  rapture  as  exceeds  the  power  of  lan- 
guage to  describe.  All  the  graces  of  the  new 
man,  by  turns,  showed  themselves  in  his  dis- 
course and  behavior.  I  never  had  so  strong  an 
idea,  from  any  human  description,  of  a  sweet 
filial  fear  of  offending  a  reconciled  Father,  as 
from  liis  conduct  on  this  occasion.  His  knowl- 
edge of  divine  things  amazed  me.  Not  a  hint 
could  be  started,  but  he  understood  and  improved 
the  thouglit  before  one  had  time  to  explain  it; 
and  many  of  those  observations  which  are  usually 
made  by  .sound  divines  on  vital  religion,  he  now 
uttered  with  astonishing  clearness  and  heartfelt 
power. 

All  this  was  the  more  wonderful,  as  he  could 
not  be  supposed  to  be  much  acquainted  with 
religious  books,  and  knew  very  little  of  the 
Bible. 

The  next  morning,  being  Sunday,  he  came  to 
me,  and  told  me  how  he  had  been  filled  all  the 
night  with  joy. 

Mr.  Howard  now,  for  several  weeks,  continued 
in  the  same  frame  of  love  and  joy.  He  would 
not  willingly  talk  on  any  subject  but  divine 
thmgs.  He  was  always  exhorting  others,  and 
praying  for  them  most  affectionately.  He  took 
private  lodgings,  being  no  longer  able  to  bear 
the  disturbance  of  a  public -house.     On  occasion 


or    MORAL    RECOVERY.  6V 

of  seeing  a  corpse  in  the  grave,  he  declared  he 
wished  much.,  if  it  were  God's  will,  to  be  in  that 
corpse's  place,  that  he  might  see  his  Jesus.  He 
wrote  letters  to  his  former  companions  in  wicked- 
ness. In  short,  his  whole  life  was  devoted  to 
God  and  to  his  Redeemer. 

He  had  all  along  been  full  of  joj,  when,  on  a 
sudden,  he  was  tempted  to  disbelieve  the  Scrip- 
tures, by  an  imagined  contradiction  in  the  difter- 
ent  accounts  of  the  two  thieves  who  were  cruci- 
fied with  our  Lord.  The  divine  wisdom  by 
wliioh  he  was  enabled  to  overcome  this  tempta- 
tion was  remarkable.  He  felt  himself  perfectly 
helpless.  He  went  to  bed  in  heaviness,  but  com- 
mitted the  matter  to  God  in  prayer,  and  endeav- 
ored to  take  no  notice  of  the  suggestion.  In 
the  morning  it  was  gone,  and  he  recovered  his 
wonted  peace. 

Mr.  Howard's  residence  among  us,  after  his 
conversion,  though  not  constant,  yet  gave  us  large 
and  frequent  opportunities  of  discovering  his 
spirit  and  temper.  Those  who  rejoiced  at  the 
change,  and  those  who  were  displeased,  (for  there 
were  those  who  were  displeased,)  each  had  an 
opportunity  of  observing  whether  it  was  some 
transient  notion  which  had  seized  his  imagina- 
tion, or  a  solid  abiding  alteration,  which  made 
him  quite  another  man. 


68  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

I  have  seldom  seen  a  more  affecting  proof  of 
human  depravity  than  in  the  language  of  some 
at  the  time  of  his  conversion — that  it  was  only 
a  sudden  fit  of  rehgion;  he  would  soon  return 
to  his  old  practices.  Their  malignant  wishes 
were,  however,  disappointed.  He  lived  for  years 
a  shining  exemplar  of  every  Christian  virtue,  and 
had  time  to  give  us  the  most  convincing  proofs 
of  the  solidity  of  his  conversion.  I  am  aware 
of  that  rant  and  hyperbole  which  are  the  usual 
rocks  of  panegyrists.  I  hope  to  avoid  them  in 
this  narrative,  and  to  say,  not  what  a  warm 
imagination,  or  the  effusions  of  friendship,  may 
dictate,  but  what  the  severe  laws  of  historical 
truth  require.  After  all  the  abatements  which 
the  most  severe  critic  may  make  to  my  supposed 
partiality,  it  must  be  allowed,  by  evGry  one  who 
knew  him,  that  his  religious  joy  was  extraordi- 
nary ;  that  his  fear  of  God  was  very  exemplary  ; 
that  his  faith,  both  for  things  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral, was  of  the  most  lively  nature;  that  his 
charity  was  uncommonly  fervent  and  steady ; 
and  that,  in  genuine  humility  of  soul,  he  was  an 
edifying  pattern  to  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Mr.  Howard  for  a  number  of  years — till 
toward  the  eve  of  his  life — lived  in  a  state  of 
joyful  communion  with  God.  ]S[ot  a  day  passed, 
as  he  told  me,  without  some  exquisite  taste  of 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  69 

heavenly  bliss.  He  could  scarce  dress  himself, 
in  a  morning,  with  suflEicient  haste,  so  eager  was 
he  to  pour  out  his  soul  in  thanksgiving  to  him 
whom  his  soul  loved.  His  dehght  in  public 
worship  was,  I  am  well  assured,  little  less  than 
rapture  ;  his  whole  soul  was  exerted  in  it.  His 
assurance  of  divine  favor  continued  unclouded 
and  vigorous  long  after  the  first  impressions 
were  gone  off.  His  love  of  God,  in  his  word 
and  in  his  providence,  appeared  to  be  the  result 
of  a  new  taste  and  spirit ;  and  he  so  naturally 
and  freely  indulged  it,  in  every  company  and 
conversation,  that  any  one  might  see  his  heart 
was  always  set  on  things  above,  while  his  body 
was  here  below. 

That  which  particularly  demonstrated  the 
solidity  of  his  joy,  was  the  spirit  of  thanksgiving 
with  which  it  was  accompanied.  Wonder,  grati- 
tude, and  love,  were  the  constant  effusions  of 
his  soul  whenever  he  spoke  of  the  Most  High. 
His  language  was  a  continued  series  of  blessing 
and  praise,  and  that  not  in  a  formal  manner,  but 
with  a  spontaneous  ease  and  liberal  dignity  of 
mind,  as  occasions  and  circumstances  offered. 
I  remember  once  walking  with  him  in  Hull: 
when  he  observed  the  hurry  of  business,  and 
multitudes  of  people  employed  in  it,  he  broke 
out  into  this  ejaculation  :  "  O  what  a  family  has 


-70 


REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 


our  God  dayly  to  provide  for ! "  This  is  one 
instance  of  that  spirit  by  which  he  was  con- 
stantly influenced,  and  of  that  joy  in  God  which 
was  ever  breaking  out  in  reverential  admiration 
of  the  divine  perfections. 

His  godly  fear  was  no  less  evident  than  his 
joy  in  the  Lord.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  the 
accounts  which  we  have  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, converted  imder  St.  Peter's  first  sermon 
at  Jerusalem,  it  is  said,  "  Fear  came  upon  every 
soul."  Acts  ii,  43.  This,  I  apprehend,  was  a 
very  distinct  perception  from  that  compunction 
and  remorse  vv-ith  which  they  were  seized  at  first, 
and  which  is  described  by  their  being  "  pricked 
in  their  heart,"  and  saying  to  the  apostles,  "  Men 
and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do?"  Whatever 
distress  might  attend  this  sensation,  it  was  efiect- 
ually  removed  by  the  joy  of  faith  and  the  com- 
fort of  forgiveness,  and  left  only  in  their  souls 
a  filial,  reverential  fear,  which  had  no  torment, 
1  John  iv,  18 — was  consistent  with  the  sincerest 
love,  and  preserved  them  in  a  state  of  son-like 
obedience.  Amid  the  overflowings  of  his  joy 
he  retained  a  constant  fear  of  sin,  and  particu- 
larly of  that  sin  to  which  he  was  most  exposed — 
I  mean  spiritual  presumption.  His  constant 
remembrance  of  what  he  had  been,  and  still 
might  be  if  le-ft  to  himself,  had  an  evident  tend- 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  *Il 

ency  to  preserve  all  his  affections  in  their  due 
equilibrium,  and  to  temper  his  joy  for  the  distin- 
guished favors  which  he  had  received. 

The  strength  and  simplicity  of  his  faith  in  God 
deserves  also  a  distinct  consideration.  How  this 
divine  principle,  the  root  and  the  instrument  of  all 
that  deserves  the  name  of  virtue,  operated  in  the 
production  of  his  peace  and  joy,  has  been  amply 
disclosed  already.  I  would  now  consider  it  as  a 
practical  principle,  diffusing  itself  over  the  whole 
of  the  Christian's  conduct,  and  disposing  him  to 
exercise  an  unreserved  confidence  in  God,  even  in 
the  most  trying  circumstances.  It  is  certain  that 
the  true  secret  of  a  happy  life  is  to  make  every- 
thing we  meet  with  an  exercise  of  our  depend- 
ence on  the  Son  of  God.  As  by  faith  alone  the 
Christian  is  first  made  happy  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  divine  peace  and  favoi-,  so  by  the  same 
principle,  universally  extended,  he  receives  every 
good  thing.  While  others  depend  on  their  own 
understandings,  contrivances,  and  works,  for  hap- 
piness, he  only  trusts  the  Lord  for  everything, 
and  as  he  trusts  he  finds  the  event  to  be.  And 
to  preserve  this  lowly,  self-denying  frame  of  faith, 
is  of  infinitely  more  consequence  than  to  grow 
in  doctrinal  accuracy  of  knowledge  :  though  this, 
if  its  ends  are  holy,  deserves  to  be  cultivated ; 
for  a  man  may  contend  earnastly  for  the  faith  as 


12  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

a  system  of  doctrine,  who  is  an  entire  stranger 
to  the  exercise  of  it  in  the  heart.  Did  we  more 
closely  examine  ourselves  from  time  to  time — 
"  Do  I  rely  on  the  Lord  in  this  or  that  particu- 
lar ?  am  I  going  continually  out  of  myself,  to 
receive  of  his  fullness?" — ^we  should  feel  more 
powerfully  the  importance  of  this  distinction ; 
and  faith  in  God,  the  singular,  but  much  des- 
pised principle  of  a  Christian,  being  brought 
into  our  whole  conduct,  would  keep  us  under 
continual  impressions  of  the  divine  perfections ; 
would  endear  Christ  to  us  perpetually  as  a 
Saviour;  would  mortify  all  that  self-sufficient 
and  self-righteous  pride  which  is  so  contrary  to 
its  nature,  and  would  be  accompanied  with  the 
sincerest  integrity  of  manners,  and  the  most  gen- 
uine exemption  from  the  spirit  of  the  world. 

Such,  I  have  abundant  evidence  for  saying, 
was  the  life  of  Mr.  Howard.  He  knew  well  the 
force  of  that  Scripture  :  "  He  that  spared  not  his 
own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how 
shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things  ? "  Rom.  viii,  32.  His  calamitous  and 
involved  circumstances  had,  doubtless,  brooded 
over  his  heart,  and  embittered  his  spirit  with 
many  a  deep  corroding  care ;  but,  after  his  heart 
had  found  peace  in  Christ,  he  was  enabled  cheer- 
fully to  leave  all  his  affairs  in  the  hands  of  a 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  '73 

gracious  Father,  and  he  passed  through  such 
scenes  of  distress  and  perplexity  as  would  have 
saddened  any  heart  that  was  unacquainted  with 
God.  He  felt  God  was  with  him,  his  sure  Friend 
and  everlasting  Portion.  He  could  trust  him  in 
every  exigency,  and  he  was  never  disappointed. 
His  little  pittance  of  earthly  support,  from  some 
relations  in  Ireland,  was  providentially  continued 
to  his  death ;  and  his  experience  afforded,  even 
in  temporal  things,  the  truth  of  that  Scriptural 
adage :  "  As  thou  hast  believed,  so  be  it  done 
unto  thee." 

What  remains  concerning  the  manner  of  his 
death  shall  be  said  in  a  few  words ;  for  the  ex- 
treme languor  into  which  he  fell  deprived  him 
of  an  opportunity  of  showing  that  which,  in  dis- 
orders that  admit  of  more  vigorous  intervals,  he 
doubtless  would  have  done.  Finding  himself 
rapidly  decaying,  he  wrote  to  liis  daughter,  then 
in  Ireland,  a  letter,  which  he  desired  might  not 
be  transmitted  to  her  till  after  his  decease,  in 
which  he  expresses,  among  other  things,  the 
strongest  confidence  of  his  expectation  of  being 
soon  called  to  his  Father's  house.  Very  soon 
after  he  was  seized  with  slumberings,  and  con- 
tinued increasingly  in  this  state  till  his  death; 
yet  he  gave  very  strong  proofs  where  his  heart 
was  amid  all  this  debility.     A  friend  of  mine 


V4  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

asking  him  if  he  had  anything  to  say  to  me,  he 
uttered  a  very  pathetic  wish  for  spiritual  bless- 
ings to  be  showered  on  my  soul.  He  was  ob- 
served amid  his  slumberings,  at  times,  to  sing 
hymns,  and,  a  very  httle  before  his  death,  ex- 
pressed his  grateful  wonder  that  God  should 
ever  take  notice  of  such  a  rebel  as  he  was.  The 
last  time  I  saw  him,  after  waiting  some  time  in 
the  room  while  he  remained  insensible,  he  sud- 
denly opened  his  eyes,  and  looked  seemingly 
Avith  some  peculiar  meaning  at  me.  I  told  him 
he  would  soon  go  to  Jesus ;  to  which  I  heard 
him  distinctly  answer,  "  I  hope  I  shall." 

And  a  little  while  after  he  was  called  to  his 
eternal  rest,  March  2,  1689. 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  76 


RECOVERY  FROM  mTEMPERANCE. 


It  is  now  more  than  eleven  years  since  I  was 
plucked  as  a  brand  from  the  burning.  When 
very  young  I  often  had  serious  impressions, 
which  continued  until  I  was  in  my  twentieth 
year,  and  then  I  sought  the  Lord  day  and  night 
for  several  months,  until  at  last  I  was  willing  the 
world  should  know  that  I  was  seeking  the  sal- 
vation of  my  soul,  and  was  willing  that  the  re- 
proaches that  the  world  casts  on  religion  should 
rest  on  me,  for  God  spoke  peace  to  my  poor 
heart,  and  I  was  made  to  rejoice. 

My  mother  wept  for  joy  when  the  tidings 
came  to  her  ears ;  and  had  I  only  been  faithful 
to  God  I  should  have  saved  one  of  the  best  of 

''  This  remarkable  case  of  recovery  from  intemper- 
ance will  show  that  there  is  hope  for  the  most  wretched 
of  men.  It  is  given  in  the  language  of  the  restored 
man,  as  best  adapted  to  its  purpose.  It  appeared 
originally  in  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal, 
New-York,  1835,  and  was  signed  "^  Brand  plucked 
from  the  Burning." 


'76  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

mothers  many  months  of  pain  and  grief.  But  I 
was  unfaithful  to  God.  For  about  three  years 
I  tried  to  beheve  that  I  was  a  Christian,  but  the 
most  of  that  time  I  only  had  the  form  of  godli- 
ness. I  commenced  business  for  myself  when' 
but  nineteen  years  old,  and  as  it  was  customary 
in  those  days  to  use  liquor,  and  the  business  I 
followed  was  hard  and  laborious,  and  the  men 
whom  I  employed  expected  their  grog,  as  it  was 
called,  I  formed  a  taste  for  it,  and  after  a  while 
I  could  take  my  bitters  and  grog  without  any 
difficulty ;  for  I  got  so  that  I  wanted  them  in 
the  morning,  and  then  again  at  10  o'clock,  and 
in  the  afternoon;  but  I  little  thought  where 
they  were  leading  me. 

Often  did  the  Spirit  of  God  try  to  convince 
me  of  my  danger ;  but  I  had  a  shield  against 
its  call,  which  was,  "  Old  professors  do  the 
same." 

I  was  much  hurried  in  business,  and  neglected 
secret  prayer,  and  at  last  I  could  spend  the 
Sabbath  at  my  boarding-house,  which  was  a 
tavern,  and  the  most  of  my  time  in  the  bar-room, 
but  not  Avithout  my  conscience  accusing  me  ;  and 
sometimes  I  would  feel  so  condemned  that  I 
would  get  away  in  some  secret  place,  and  try  to 
pray,  and  promise  to  reform.  But  while  in  this 
state  I  received  a  letter  from  my  oldest  brothei". 


OF    MORAL    KECOVERY.  77 

requesting-  me  to  pray  for  him,  saying  "  he  be- 
lieved in  the  prayers  of  the  righteous."  This 
was  like  thunder  to  my  heart.  "  What,"  said  I, 
"  inust  my  brother  think  of  me  when  he  knows 
that  I  have  left  off  prayer  ?"  I  resolved  from 
that  time  to  try  and  do  better ;  but  my  resolu- 
tions were  soon  gone,  and  my  oft-repeated  vows 
broken,  until  adverse  winds  began  to  blow  upon 
me.  I  owed  considerable  money,  and  had  money 
due  me.  I  had  just  begun  to  fancy  that  I  should 
be  rich  ;  but  one  failure  after  another,  and  one 
loss  after  another,  came  on  me  until  I  could  not 
meet  my  payments  when  due,  and  my  creditors 
showed  me  no  favor.  I  had  writ  after  writ,  and 
warrant  after  warrant,  and  execution  after  exe- 
cution, until  I  was  obliged  to  stop  my  business 
and  go  on  the  limits.  My  property  was  sold  for 
less  than  half  the  value,  and  I  found  myself  in- 
volved in  debt  to  a  considerable  amount.  In 
this  state  I  knew  not  what  to  do.  I  had  for- 
saken the  Lord,  and  almost  every  man  that  had 
pretended  friendship  to  me  now  treated  me 
with  coldness ;  and  the  Church,  instead  of  trying 
to  win  me  back  to  God,  now  slighted  me.  But 
religion  was  at  a  very  low  ebb  in  the  place,  as 
the  best  of  the  professors  that  I  knew  did  not 
scruple  to  do  many  things  on  the  Sabbath  that 
would,  in  the  State  I  was  raised  in,  have  been 


tS  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

sufficient  to  have  indicted  them.  But  I  have  no 
one  to  blame  but  myself.  I  cast  no  blame  on 
any  one. 

I  might  have  reformed  even  then;  but  in- 
stead of  reforming,  I  gave  vent  to  my  feelings, 
and  tried  to  drown  my  troubles  with  strong- 
drink.  I  did  not  get  beastly  drunk,  nor  stagger 
about  the  streets;  but  it  was  one  continual  prac- 
tice every  day,  and  a  number  of  times  in  a  day. 
I  drank ;  but  still  I  should  have  shuddered  at 
the  idea  of  being  a  drunkard.  Some  of  my 
friends  saw  my  state,  and  warned  me  against 
such  a  course ;  however  I  heeded  none  of  them, 
but  continued  my  course  until  at  last  I  threw 
off  all  restraint,  and  after  a  while  made  myself 
believe  in  the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation. 
I  finally  got  pretty  well  established  in  that  doc- 
trine, and  then  my  mind  became  more  easy,  as 
the  fears  of  hell  were  gone,  and  from  that  I 
tried  to  he  an  infidel  in  full,  and  at  times  I 
was  so. 

I  followed  this  course  for  several  years,  until 
all  my  relations,  except  my  mother,  gave  me  up 
for  lost.  My  friends  were  ashamed  of  me,  and 
drunkards  and  infidels  were  my  associates. 
None  but  drunkards  can  tell  the  feelings  of 
the  drunkard,  and  if  you,  my  dear  reader,  are 
on  your  way  to  be  one,  O  read  this  history  with 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  Yd 

care ;  for,  blessed  be  God !  there  is  yet  hope  in 
your  case. 

Are  you  slighted  by  your  relatives  and  given 
up  for  lost  ?  So  was  I.  Have  you  undertaken 
to  j-eforra,  and  in  a  few  days  got  worse  than  you 
were  before  ?  Do  not  be  discouraged.  Try 
again  and  again,  for  I.  broke  a  great  many 
promises,  and  even  oaths  in  this  way.  0,  poor 
drunkard,  my  heart  is  pained  for  you.  I  know 
how  you  feel  in  all  the  stages  of  your  course, 
for  I  continued  that  course  until  I  had  come  to 
the  gates  of  death.  Several  doctors  told  me  if 
I  broke  off  from  drink  all  at  once  I  could  not 
live,  as  my  life  was  kept  up  by  the  liquor,  for 
wlien  the  operation  of  that  was  going  off  I 
thought  die  I  must.  My  nerves  were  much 
affected.  I  trembled  like  a  leaf  in  the  wind. 
My  breath  was  short,  my  appetite  was  gone, 
and  I  dared  not  go  to  my  bed  without  taking 
some  liquor  with  me. 

I  was  in  a  business  by  which  with  little  labor 
I  could  furnish  myself  with  as  much  liquor  as  I 
wanted  to  drink.  About  a  year  before  I  stopped 
my  course  I  went  to  see  my  mother,  and  she, 
dear  woman,  pitied  me,  and  clasped  me  around 
my  neck,  and  wept  over  me.  O,  the  love  of  a 
mother !  My  hard  heart  was  broken.  I  prom- 
ised faithfully  that  I  would  reform,  and  I  meant 


80  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

to  do  SO ;  but  how  to  set  about  it  I  knew  not.  I 
meant  to ;  I  was  fully  determined  to  break  off 
by  degrees,  and  made  an  attempt,  and  for  four 
or  five  days  I  made  some  progress  ;  but  the  first 
I  knew  I  was  still  deeper  in  guilt  than  before. 
My  thirst  for  liquor  was  such  that  I  would  have 
parted  with  my  coat  for  rum  sooner  than  have 
gone  without  it.  0  the  feelings,  the  awful 
feehngs,  of  the  poor  drunkard  !  Who  can  paint 
them?  They  would  be  glad  to  reform,  but, 
poor  souls,  they  have  lost  the  power.  They 
stand  and  reason,  and  at  times  will  start  with  the 
spirit  of  a  man  and  say,  *' Am  I  not  a  man,  and 
can  I  not  overcome  this  besetment?" — "Yes, 
I  can,  and  will.^^  And  then  they  try  their 
strength,  and  for  a  while  are  masters ;  but  there 
is  that  hankering  for  liquor  left,  and  they  reason 
again  with  themselves :  "  I  can  use  a  little,  and 
it  will  do  me  good ;"  and  the  devil  tells  them 
that  they  can  do  ,it,  and  not  get  back' into  the 
old  track,  but  use  it  for  their  health.  But  soon, 
to  their  shame  and  sorrow,  they  find  as  did  our 
first  parents,  instead  of  being  wise  and  hke  gods, 
they  are  more  like  devils.  0,  how  often  did  I 
fall  in  this  way !  and  the  least  trouble  I  had,  I 
increased  the  dose.  O,  what  a  mercy  it  is  that 
I  am  out  of  hell !  While  I  am  now  writing,  my 
heart  rejoices  in  the  great  goodness  of  God. 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  81 

After  I  had  conferred  with  several  doctors, 
and  they  had  told  me  I  could  hve  but  a  very- 
few  months,  and  some  that  I  could  live  but  a 
few  days,  and  that  when  I  did  die  it  would  be 
suddenly,  and  that  they  should  not  be  sur- 
prised if  I  did  not  live  a  week,  my  feelings 
were  like  death ;  but  my  appetite  was  not  gone, 
and  I  suppose  I  drank  at  least  three  pints  of 
brandy  in  a  day,  and  sometimes  half  a  gallon. 
But  still  I  was  not  staggering  about  the  streets, 
except  in  the  morning,  when  I  was  so  weak 
that  I  could  not  walk  straight ;  and  I  have  in 
two  or  three  instances  heard  men  say,  "  What ! 
drunk  so  early  ?"  But  by  nine  or  ten  o'clock 
they  would  think  differently ;  for  the  liquor 
would  operate  to  brace  the  nerves  and  help  me 
to  walk,  I  now  began  to  think  of  death,  and 
felt  that  my  time  was  short.  I  had  relations 
that  were  respectable,  and  their  characters  were 
as  fair  as  any,  and  the  disgrace  I  was  like 
to  bring  on  them  gave  me  pain.  I  could  not 
bear  the  thought.  I  had  tried  to  steel  my 
heart  against  everything  that  told  me  ray  soul 
was  in  danger  of  eternal  damnation ;  for  when 
I  could  not  hold  on  to  my  infidelity,  I  would  fly 
to  Universal  ism. 

But  all  these  props  began  to  fail  me,  and  I 
concluded  that  I  must  be  damned ;  for  me  to 
6 


82  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

hope  in  the  mercy  of  God  looked  like  presump- 
tion and  mockery.  O,  how  my  poor  sin-sick 
soul  cried  out  for  help !  No  one  but  you,  poor 
drunkard,  that  art  now  on  the  very  verge  of 
hell,  can  tell  how  I  felt  when  closing  my  eyes 
at  night.  I  would  take  some  water  to  wet  my 
parched  throat,  and  say  to  myself,  "Perhaps 
before  I  wake  I  may  be  in  the  torments  of  the 
damned,  and  never  taste  water  again."  Yes,  I 
have  looked  at  the  water,  and  as  I  put  the  glass  to 
my  mouth,  felt  as  though  iwas  drinking  for  the 
last  time. 

ISTow,  reader,  you  may  try  to  paint  my  feelings, 
but  you  will  try  in  vain.  Here  I  was  at  a  stand. 
To  go  forward  was  death;  to  stop  was  death. 
I  thought  I  had  but  very  little  time  to  consider 
what  to  do.  To  ask  God  to  have  mercy  on  me 
I  dared  not,  and  in  this  extremity  I  called  to  the 
devil  to  come  and  help  me.  For  a  while  I  would 
have  made  a  leag^ue  with  him ;  but  I  called  in 
vain.  I  was  far  away  from  my  friends  and 
home,  and  I  came  to  the  resolution  to  put  an 
end  to  my  life,  and  know  the  worst  of  my  state  ; 
but  this  God  prevented. 

Yes,  I  was  on  the  point  of  performing  this 
deed  by  jumping  overboard  from  a  steamboat ; 
but  some  gentlemen,  observing  my  actions,  saw 
that  I  was  insane,  and  caught  hold  of  me ;  or 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  83 

no  doubt,  instead  of  giving  a  history  of  the  affair 
to  this  world,  I  should  have  been  in  the  torments 
of  the  damned.  Glory  to  God  for  his  inter- 
position, by  which  I  was  saved  from  a  watery 
grave,  and  my  poor  soul  from  the  damnation  of 
hell.     "  Bless  the  Lord,  0  my  soul !" 

ISTow,  reader,  I  am  coming  to  that  part  of  my 
history  where  I  resolved  to  do  better.  I  had 
often  come  to  this  resolution,  but  not  as  I  now 
did.  Liquor  had  a  different  effect  on  me  from 
what  it  had  before.  I  was  miserable  all  the  time, 
both  day  and  night,  and  at  times  I  was  delirious. 
I  saw  no  peace.  My  poor  soul  was  troubled, 
but  for  what  I  hardly  kneAV.  I  increased  the 
quantity  of  my  drink,  and  several  times  to  that 
degree  that  I  was  helpless  and  senseless. 

0  what  a  mercy  it  is  that  God  kept  me  alive ! 
I  wonder — yes,  it  appears  a  miracle  to  me — that 
I  did  not  die  ;  for  I  thought  I  had  taken  enough 
to  kill  four  or  five  men.  But  still  the  blessed 
Jesus  was  seeking  me,  and  not  willing  to  give 
me  up.  0  the  boundless  mercy  and  love  of 
Jesus  Christ !  Well  might  I  adopt  the  language 
of  the  poet  and  say : — 

"0  to  grace  liow  great  a  debtor 

Dayly  I  'm  constrain'd  to  Tbe ! 
Let  thy  goodness,  like  a  fetter, 

Bind  my  wand'ring  heart  to  thee." 


84  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

I  came  to  the  determination  while  I  was 
under  the  influence  of  liquor,  that  I  would 
drink  no  more.  Yes,  when  I  took  the  last 
drink  of  rum,  I  said,  "  Now  I  have  done,  and 
in  a  very  little  time  I  shall  die,  and  I  deserve 
to  die;"  but  if  death  was  all,  and  when  this 
poor  body  should  lie  a  lifeless  lump  of  clay, 
that  was  my  end,  death  would  have  been  a 
welcome  messenger ;  but  there  was  a  dread  of 
future  evils. 

The  first  night  I  slept  until  about  daylight 
in  the  morning,  as  I  had  taken  a  good  dram, 
as  I  called  it,  to  wind  up  on.  I  arose,  and 
was  weak  and  trembling.  The  first  thought 
was  of  my  vow  made  to  stop.  I  walked 
about  until  breakfast  was  ready,  but  not  with- 
out being  tempted  to  drink.  I  almost  yielde(^ 
to  the  temptation,  but  thought  1  would  try  to 
eat  my  breakfast  without,  and  take  a  cup  of 
coffee.  My  hand  trembled  so  that  I  could 
scarcely  hold  my  cup.  I  drank  one  cup  of 
coffee,  but  could  not  eat.  I  arose  from  the 
table  and  walked  out.  Minutes  were  hours  to 
me.  Several  times  I  was  about  drinkinf?,  and 
then  I  w^ould  stop.  My  breath  was  short.  I 
got  out  of  my  chair  many  times,  thinking  that  I 
never  should  breathe  again.  The  people  asked 
me  what  was  the  matter  witli  me,  and  told  me 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  85 

I  looked  like  death — that  I  looked  frightful.  I 
told  them  I  was  sick,  but  did  not  tell  them  what 
ailed  me,  nor  how  I  felt.  In  this  way  I  passed" 
the  first  day.  Night  came  on,  and  I  walked  out 
and  in  until  about  ten  o'clock,  and  then  time 
came  to  retire.  I  was  among  strangers,  and 
went  to  bed ;  but  sleep  was  gone.  Several 
times  I  got  up  to  breathe,  as  my  breath  would 
stop.  I  got  into  a  doze  several  times,  and  felt 
as  though  there  were  a  hundred  pins  sticking  in 
my  flesh.  I  would  take  the  water  I  had  taken 
to  my  bed  in  my  hand,  and  view  it  by  the  lamp 
I  kept  burning,  and  then  take  a  drink  of  it.  0 
how  good  it  tasted  to  my  parched  throat !  Then 
I  would  say  to  myself,  "Perhaps  this  is  the  last 
water  that  I  ever  shall  be  pennitted  to  drink.  I 
may  soon  be  in  hell,  caUing  for  water  in  vain." 
Then  I  would  try  the  strength  of  my  infidelity, 
and  say,  "There  is  no  God.  When  I  die,  that 
is  the  last  of  me.  The  Bible  is  all  a  hoax- 
there  is  no  truth  in  it."  But  then  the  Spirit  of 
God  would  again  shine  in  my  heart,  and  I  looked 
back  to  the  hour  that  God  spoke  peace  to  my 
poor  soul,  and  I  was  driven  from  that  foundation, 
and  found  myself  adrift  on  the  fearful  waves  of 
despair.  Then  I  would  reason  for  universal  sal- 
vation, and  say,  "  God  is  love.  Surely  my  pmi- 
ishment  is  enough  to  satisfy  him.    Every  man  is 


86  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

punished  here  for  his  sins.  Jesus  Christ  tasted 
death  for  every  man,  and  it  is  his  will  that  all 
mankind  should  be  saved,  and  he  hath  all  power. 
His  blood  was  spilled  for  all  men,  and  he  will 
save  all.  I  need  not  fear  to  die.  The  power 
of  Christ  is  above  that  of  the  devil;  he  will 
save  me." 

In  this  way  my  mind  would,  for  a  few  min- 
utes, be  more  easy;  but  then  again  it  would 
sound  in  my  ears,  "  The  wages  of  sin  is  death ;" 
"  And  in  hell  the  rich  man  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
being  in  torment ;"  and  the  lost  are  "  reserved 
in  chains  against  the  day  of  judgment,  suffer- 
ing the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire."  And  then 
again  I  would  find  myself  deprived  of  every 
prop.  To  ask  God  to  have  mercy,  I  dared  not ; 
but  I  still  resolved  that  I  would  drink  no  more ; 
I  would  die  sober;  and  if  my  wretched  death 
would  alarm  any  one,  that  they  might  not  come 
to  the  like  peril,  I  should  be  glad.  The  night 
appeared  to  be  as  long  as  any  year  I  had  ever 
seen ;  but  at  last  the  light  of  the  morning  broke 
forth,  and,  as  I  went  out,  all  nature  seemed  to 
mourn. 

I  had  eaten  nothing  through  the  day  past ;  I 
was  very  weak;  and  everything  I  saAV  seemed 
to  be  clad  in  mourning.  People  looked  like 
shadows,  and  sometimes  I  thought  I  was  among 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  87 

ghosts,  and  then  I  would  start  at  the  fearful  ap- 
proaches of  death.  I  tried  to  take  some  break- 
fast, and  the  people  seemed  to  pity  me,  and  tried 
to  get  me  to  eat ;  but  I  could  swallow  but  very- 
little,  and  what  I  did  made  me  worse.  I  walked 
about  in  one  place  after  another  to  find  peace : 
but  0  how  true  that  Scripture  that  says,  "  There 
is  no  peace  to  the  wicked  !"  I  suffered  many 
sore  temptations  that  day  to  drink,  and  consented 
many  times  in  my  mind  before  I  was  aware  it 
was  a  temptation.  The  enemy  brought  new 
pleas  to  me  that  I  could  harldly  resist.  He  told 
me,  as  did  the  doctors,  that  I  ought  to  stop  by 
degrees,  and  then  I  might  live ;  but  I  surely 
would  die  if  I  did  not  drink  a  little.  If  I  took  a 
little,  I  might  wind  off  in  that  way,  and  then, 
when  my  mind  was  settled,  I  might  seek  for 
religion ;  but  as  I  was,  it  was  of  no  use  to  pray, 
for  it  would  b.e  presumption  for  such  a  poor 
wicked  wretch  as  I  to  pray — I  must  stop  gradu- 
ally, not  all  at  once.  This  argument  had  like  to 
overcome  me,  for  I  thought  if  it  would  put  me 
in  the  way  of  salvation  I  ought  to  yield  to  it :  for 
I  thought  it  was  from  God.  But  then  my  oft- 
repeated  vows  came  to  my  mind :  I  saw  how 
many  times  I  had  tried  to  gradually  break  oft', 
and  could  not,  foi*  just  as  soon  as  I  drank  one 
glass,  I  had  no  more  power  to  resist.    Sometime<> 


88  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

I  would  drink  cider  or  beer,  and  try  to  break  off 
on  them ;  but,  ere  I  was  aware,  I  would  be  deeper 
in  the  mire  of  intemperance  than  before  I  tried 
to  stop.  When  these  thoughts  came  to  m)'- 
mind,  I  again  resolved  to  die  as  I  was,  rather 
than  return  to  my  old  course.  But  0  what  a 
day  of  suffering !  I  dreaded  the  night  that  was 
approaching ;  it  made  me  shudder  for  fear  of  the 
consequences  that  might  attend  it ;  but  it  passed 
off  much  the  same  as  the  second  night  had. 
On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  I  would  have 
thanked  God,  if  I  dared,  that  I  was  alive  ;  but  I 
dared  not  take  his  name  on  my  lips,  nor  so  much 
as  indulge  one  thought  of  mercy  from  him.  This 
day  passed  off  much  the  same  as  the  day  be- 
fore, only  I  felt  worse.  I  had  many  pains  that 
I  had  not  had  before.  The  fourth  night  came 
on,  and  0  what  feelino-s  with  it !  I  felt  a  degree 
of  gratitude  that  I  was  out  of  hell.  I  dozed  a 
little ;  but,  the  first  I  knew,  I  Avould  be  on  my 
feet,  ready  to  run  I  knew  not  where.  In  this 
way  I  spent  five  nights  and  days,  growing  worse 
and  worse. 

I  thought  the  second  day  was  as  bad  as  it 
could  be,  or  that  I  could  not  feel  any  worse 
than  I  did ;  but  my  feelings  were  worse  than  I 
have  language  to  express.  On  the  fourth  day 
I  gave  myself  up  several  times  to  die,  and  won- 


OF    MORAL    EEC O VERY.  89 

dered,  when  I  came  to  myself,  that  I  was  not 
dead.  But  the  fifth  day  arrived — memorable 
day  for  me !  In  the  morning,  0  how  I  suffered 
by  being  tempted  to  drink.  I  went  to  a  tavern, 
and  had  almost  asked  for  rum.  I  was  so  fee- 
ble that  I  could  scarcely  walk  there ;  and  a 
thought  was  suggested  to  me  to  ask  for  milk, 
which  I  did,  and  drank  about  a  pint,  and  was 
going  away,  when  the  landlord  called  me  by 
name  and  said,  ''  Take  a  little  bitters ;  you  look 
like  death:  are  you  sick?"  "Yes,  I  am  sick," 
said  I.  "  Well,"  said  he,  "  take  a  Httle  bitters ; 
it  will  make  you  feel  better."  But  I  refused ; 
and  how  I  hardly  know ;  for  the  temptations 
were  such,  and  my  feelings  such,  that  I  could 
hardly  resist,  for  I  believed  that  it  would  make 
me  feel  better,  and  my  agony  of  body  and  soul 
together  was  about  to  overpower  me.  I  was 
about  to  tell  the  landlord  my  vows ;  but  then  I 
was  afraid  that  I  should  break  them,  and  my 
hell  would  be  the  worse.  So  away  I  went.  In 
the  afternoon  of  this  day  I  had  such  feelings  as 
I  cannot  describe.  God  had  begun  to  shine  in 
my  heart,  and  show  my  wretchedness  more  than 
I  had  at  any  time  seen  before. 

I  saw  the  justice  of  God  in  my  damnation. 
I  stood  on  the  very  verge  of  hell.  My  poor 
distressed  soul  began  to  prepare  to  leave  its  clay 


90  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

tenement.  Several  times  I  fainted — but  all  alone 
I  came  to  myself  again — and  what  was  it  to  see 
and  feel  ?  0  how  my  poor  fallen  spirit  souglit 
for  refuge  from  the  wrath  of  God !  David  says 
he  felt  the  pains  of  hell ;  but  if  ever  a  poor 
fallen  being  was  allowed  to  feel  the  pains  of  the 
damned,  I  was.  Something  seemed  to  whisper, 
"  Pray ;"  but  that  looked  like  mockery,  and 
made  me  more  miserable  :  for  it  appeared  to  me 
that  God  could  not  be  just  and  pardon  such  a 
wretch  as  I  was.  Now,  dear  reader,  you  may 
think  you  have  a  frightful  picture;  but  I  tell 
you  that  there  is  as  much  difference  between 
the  picture  drawn  and  the  feelings  I  then  had 
as  there  is  between  a  shadow  and  the  substance. 
But  finally  the  Spirit  of  God  pleaded  with  me  to 
pray  so  often,  and  so  powerfully,  that  I  resolved 
to  begin.  I  commenced,  and  my  prayer  was, 
"  0  God,  have  mercy  on  me,  the  worst  of  sin- 
ners. Save  my  poor  soul  from  the  damnation 
of  hell."  I  prayed  aloud — and  when  I  had  got 
to  the  house  where  I  stopped,  I  fell  down  on  my 
knees  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and  prayed  with 
all  my  strength. 

The  people  tried  to  stop  me,  and  said  I  was 
crazy.  I  told  them  I  was  not,  but  I  stood  on 
the  very  borders  of  hell,  and  my  poor  soul  be- 
fore the  next  morning  would  be  shrieking  in  tor- 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  91 

ment.  I  tried  to  get  them  to  pray  for  me,  but 
none  of  them  had  ever  prayed  in  their  lives. 
They  became  alarmed,  and  were  about  to  send 
for  a  doctor.  Some  of  the  neighbors'  children 
were  sent;  one  ran  one  way,  and  another  an- 
other ;  but  I,  like  the  blind  man  by  the  wayside, 
cried  the  louder  for  mercy.  I  spent  the  night, 
the  most  of  my  time  on  my  knees,  praying  for 
pardon;  but  just  before  day,  by  much  persua- 
sion, I  went  to  bed,  fell  asleep,  and  slept  until 
after  sunrise. 

They  asked  me  how  I  felt.  I  told  them  I  felt 
wretched  beyond  description.  This  day,  while 
praying,  for  the  first  time  I  felt  tenderness  of 
heart,  and  wept  aloud.  They  again  came  around 
me,  saying,  "  You  are  crazy  ;"  but  I  knew  better. 
I  had  a  little  more  confidence  to  pray,  and  spent 
the  most  of  the  day  in  praying  and  reading  the 
Bible.  I  slept  more  at  night  than  I  had  for  five 
nights  before.  I  continued  to  pray  for  four  days 
and  nights,  and  sought  God  with  all  my  heart. 
I  came  very  near  making  way  with  myself. 

One  day  I  met  a  professor  of  religion,  and 
instead  of  comforting  or  encouraging  me,  he  al- 
most drove  me  to  despair.  He  told  me  he  be- 
lieved God  had  given  me  up,  and  that  my  doom 
was  fixed;  but  I  do  not  blame  him,  as  I  had  so 
often  and  so  greatly  sinned  against  God ;  and  I 


92  REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

have  no  doubt  that  he  was  sincere  in  what  he 
said.  My  own  dear  brother  in  the  flesh  gave 
me  up  for  lost ;  3'es,  my  praying  brothers  and 
sisters  have  since  told  me  that  they  felt  as 
though  they  grieved  the  Spirit  when  they  tried 
to  pray  for  me.  But,  blessed  be  God,  Jesus 
Christ  had  not  given  me  up ;  my  d6ar  mother 
had  not  given  me  up.  She  had  made  a  vow  to 
God  never  to  give  me  up  nor  give  over  pleading 
with  God  till  he  had  blessed  me.  Christ  heard 
and  answered  those  prayers,  and  sent  the  holy 
Comforter  to  my  poor  disconsolate  soul.  Just 
as  the  natural  sun  was  setting  the  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness arose  in  my  heart,  on  the  ninth  day 
after  I  forsook  rum,  and  the  fourth  day  after  I 
dared  to  try  and  hope  in  the  mercies  of  God. 
It  is  now  better  than  eleven  years  since,  and 
blessed  be  God  I  am  still  on  the  way  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  My  business  called  me 
among  the  world,  and  I  was  every  day  in  the 
week  with  those  that^  tried  for  some  time  to  en- 
trap me  and  get  me  to  drink ;  but  God  gave  me 
grace,  and  I  was  not  overcome.  But  those  that 
tried  to  entrap  me  soon  got  sly  and  shunned  me 
for  fear  of  being  reproved ;  for  as  soon  as  they 
began  to  tempt  me  to  drink,  and  tell  me  of  our 
old  friendship,  and  say,  "A  little  cannot  hurt 
you,  and  I  shall  think  you  are  offended  with 


OP    MORAL    RECOVERY.  93 

me  if  you  do  not  drink  with  me ;"  I  would  say, 
*'  I  know  well  what  our  old  friendship  was,  and 
who  our  master  was  ;  and  he  had  like  to  have  got 
me  shut  up  in  hell.  But  blessed  be  God,  He 
hath  helped  me  to  break  the  snare  and  set  my 
soul  at  hberty,  and  his  service  is  so  much  the 
best  that  I  will  serve  him ;  for  the  service  of 
God  gives  me  peace  of  soul,  and  makes  me 
happy  in  prospect  of  a  better  world."  Then  I 
would  try  to  entreat  them  to  flee  from  the  wrath 
to  come,  and  forsake  their  cups.  Some  of  them 
turned  to  God,  and  are  now  in  the  happy  road ; 
but  others  are  on  their  way  down  to  the  gulf  of 
misery,  and  some  have  died  drunkards,  and  God 
hath  judged  them  ;  so  I  forbear  saying  more  of 
them.  But  those  who  I  was  afraid  would  lead 
me  astray  fled  from  me,  for  they  could  not  with- 
stand love,  and  I  always  addressed  them  in  that 
manner. 

0  the  boundless  love  of  God  to  poor  fallen 
man!  Who  can  fathom  it?  who  can  measure 
it  ?  who  can  tell  it  ?  But,  bless  the  Lord ! 
all  may  feel  and  enjoy  it — ^yes,  bless  the  Lord ! 
the  vilest  of  the  vile  may  come ;  for  he  has 
made  provision  for  all,  or  he  vrould  have  passed 
by  me.  If  he  could  save  such  a  hell-deserving 
sinner  as  I  was,  none  need  despair.  Now,  my 
dear  readers,  and  you  in  particular  that  are  on 


94  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

the  road  that  I  traveled,  I  entreat  you  to  stop 
and  think  before  you  stir  from  the  place  where 
you  are,  and  see  whither  the  road  you  are  travel- 
ing will  lead  you.  You  are  either  on  the  way  to 
heaven  or  to  hell.  If  you  are  not  aware,  you 
will  take  one  step  too  far  toward  that  place  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  One  step 
more  may  prove  your  ruin.  But  you  may  say 
that  you  are  such  a  poor,  miserable  drunkard 
you  cannot  come — you  would  be  glad  to  reform, 
but  you  cannot — you  have  tried  a  hundred 
times,  and  as  often  have  broken  your  vows,  and 
are  now  further  from  God  than  before.  But 
stop,  poor  drunkard.  You  can  reform — you 
can  come  to  God.  Though  you  have  broken  a 
thousand  vows,  yet  God  will  not  cast  you  off.  I 
broke  many — yes,  oaths  and  vows  made  on  my 
knees  before  God — ^but  still  God  had  mercy  on 
me.  But  you  say  you  have  no  power  to  resist. 
Try  it.  Put  some  arsenic  in  your  rum,  and  then 
see  if  you  will  touch  it.  You  can  resist  it.  God 
will  help  you  to  do  it. 

But  perhaps  your  doctors  have  told  you,  as 
they  did  me,  that  if  you  stop  all  at  once  you 
will  die.  Do  not  fear.  God  will  not  let  you 
die,  if  you  flee  to  him  with  all  your  heart.  Do 
you  feel  as  though  you  were  dying  ?  So  did  T. 
Yes,  I  thought  several  times  that  I  should  never 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  95 

breathe  again.  Now  let  me  say  to  you,  poor, 
wretched,  miserable  man,  there  is  yet  hope  in 
your  case.  Bless  the  Lord,  you  are  out  of  hell, 
and  the  arm^  of  Mercy  are  outstretched  to  em- 
brace you. 

You  may  say  that  you  have  no  praying  mother 
or  friend  as  I  had.  You  may  not  have  a  pray- 
ing mother.  Your  mother's  gray  hairs  may 
have  been  brought  down  to  the  grave  with  sor- 
row for  you,  or  you  may  never  have  had  a  pray- 
ing relative ;  yet  be  assured,  my  dear  friend, 
you  have  the  prayers  of  every  sincere  child  of 
God.  My  soul  is  often  in  an  earnest  struggle 
with  God  in  behalf  of  poor  drunkards.  My 
heart  almost  bleeds  when  I  see  one.  0  could  I 
help  them,  how  soon  I  would  do  it !  But  you 
say  if  you  should  now  reform,  you  have  lost 
your  character — no  one  would  have  any  confi- 
dence in  you — the  people  of  God  would  shun 
such  a  poor  wretch  as  you  are — they  would  not 
believe  you  if  you  should  tell  them  you  want 
religion.  Do  not  fear.  Go  to  some  pious  man 
and  let  him  know  that  you  want  to  reform,  and 
see  if  he  will  not  pray  for  you  and  comfort 
you ;  and  if  he  should  not,  what  is  that  to  you  ? 
Your  poor  soul  is  at  stake,  and  if  you  do  not 
mind  you  will  lose  it.  Jesus  Christ  Avill  not  re- 
ject your  plea,  although  man  might  do  it.     I 


96  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

was  told  by  man  that  my  damnation  was  sealed. 
But  what  said  Jesus  to  me  ?  "  Come  unto  me, 
all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest ;"  and,  "  Whosoever  coraeth  unto 
me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  No,  for  no  rea- 
son. You  may  see  many  good  reasons  why 
God  should  cast  you  off;  but  be  assured  that 
for  none  you  can  bring  will  he  cast  you  off.  He 
will  receive  you,  and  then  by  your  reformed  life 
you  will  soon  have  friends  enough  that  will  be 
friends  indeed. 

When  I  obtained  grace  I  owed  over  one  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  had  not  the  value  of  two  shil- 
lings to  help  myself  with.  I  believe  I  had  one 
shilling  in  my  pocket,  and  I  could  not  have  got 
credit  for  a  glass  of  rum  before  this  ;  but  I 
commenced  work,  and  instead  of  spending  my 
money  for  rum,  and  my  time  in  drinking  it,  I 
paid  my  debts,  and  in  about  four  years  I  was 
able  to  pay  every  man.  Yes,  I  established  my 
credit  by  my  life,  and  now  my  property  is 
worth  over  four  thousand  dollars  clear  of  all  the 
debts  I  owe.  God  hath  given  me  not  only 
peace  and  joy  in  my  heart,  and  a  happy  little 
family  that  causes  my  heart  to  rejoice,  v/hen  I 
see  them  all  bow,  morning  and  evening,  with  me 
at  the  throne  of  grace,  but  he  hath  given  me  of 
this  world's  goods  ;  so  that  I  can  bless  the  Lord 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  97 

I  am  enabled  to  make  the  heart  of  the  poor 
widow  and  orphan  rejoice.  I  hold  nothing  as 
my  own.  I  am  only  a  steward  ;  and  when  God 
says,  Give!  I  do  it  with  cheerfulness,  and  he 
gives  to  me  peace  and  joy  in  so  doing. 

Reader,  if  you  are  not  a  drunkard,  and  never 
was,  you  have  reason  to  be  thankful.  You 
ought  to  pity  the  poor  drunkard.  Many  men 
may,  by  kind  treatment,  be  reformed.  Now  fix 
your  eye  on  one,  and  use  all  the  influence  you 
have  for  one  year,  and  see  if  you  cannot  make 
a  family  happy,  and  be  instrumental  in  the  hand 
of  God  of  saving  a  soul  from  hell.  Do  not  be 
discouraged  by  some  failures,  but  be  bent  on  it, 
and  make  it  the  burden  of  your  prayers,  and 
see  what  God  will  help  you  to  perform.  Surely 
you  can  do  much.  Do  not  get  weary,  but  use 
all  the  means  you  have  in  your  power,  and  God 
will  crown  your  efforts  with  success.  You  may 
think  that  what  you  say  to  the  drunkard  is  of 
no  use — that  he  is  past  feeling;  but  you  are 
mistaken.  If  you  do  all  you  can,  though  he 
may  make  light  of  it,  what  you  say  to  him  in 
love  he  will  feel  when  alone,  and  will  often 
weep.  The  most  miserable  being  on  earth  is 
the  drunkard.  He  may  feel  rich  while  under 
the  operation  of  liquor ;  but  when  that  is  gone 
he  will  feel,  and  no  one  knows  how  he  will 
7 


98  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

feel  but  himself.  His  character  is  gone — he  ir 
despised  and  shunned — he  is  discouraged,  and 
the  least  disappointment  or  trouble  will  send 
him  to  the  glass  for  help;  and  thus  the  poor 
man  is  hurried  on  by  his  own  appetite  and  the 
devil.  But  had  he  friends  he  might  be  saved ; 
that  is,  the  most  of  them.  I  have  often  felt  as 
though  I  would  be  willing  to  bind  myself  to 
any  man  that  would  have  undertaken  my  ref- 
ormation. Yes,  I  have  gone  further  than  that 
— I  have  been  on  the  point  of  going  to  the  state- 
prison,  and  offering  to  stay  there  two  or  three 
years  to  wean  myself  from  my  cups.  I  started 
several  times,  and  once  I  got  in  front  of  the 
prison,  and  was  about  addressing  myself  to  the 
keeper,  when  it  was  suggested  to  me,  "They 
will  think  you  are  a  lunatic,  and  will  not  pay  any 
attention  to  you.  I  might  as  well  try  to  break 
off  myself.  I  can,  and  I  will."  I  would  say, 
"  Begin  to  taper  off;"  but  soon  something  would 
come  in  my  way  to  cross  me,  and  then  I  would 
double  my  dose.  0  that  the  poor,  unhappy,  in- 
temperate men  only  knew  how  willing  Jesus 
Christ  is  to  help  them,  how  soon  they  would 
make  an  effort  to  get  to  him ! 

Now,  dear  man,  let  me  say  a  few  words  to 
you,  to  encourage  you  to  set  out  with  all  your 
powers  for  a  reformation.     You  need  not  think 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  99 

your  case  too  hard  for  Jesus  Christ,  or  your 
sins  too  many  or  great  for  him  to  undertake  your 
cause.  He  will  not  reject  your  suit.  He  will 
hear  your  prayer.  It  is  the  devil  that  tells  you 
you  are  too  bad  to  come  to  Jesus.  Though  your 
sins  are  as  scarlet  or  crimson,  you  may  come. 
If  you  are  out  of  hell,  blessed  be  God !  the 
arras  of  mercy  are  now  open  to  embrace  you. 
You  may  yet  be  happy,  and  make  your  poor 
wife  and  children's  hearts  rejoice — yes,  your 
father  and  mother,  your  brothers  and  sisters — 
yes,  and  all  who  know  you  will  feel  pleased, 
even  the  drunkard  himself  will  be  glad ;  and 
the  Church  is  ready  to  receive  you  with  open 
arms  upon  j^our  repentance.  You  may  yet  be 
a  useful  citizen,  and  an  honor  to  the  name  you 
bear. 

I  said  God  had  blessed  me  with  both  tempo- 
ral and  spiritual  blessings.  Yes,  when  I  em- 
braced the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  again  I  was 
poor,  as  I  said  before — much  in  debt — my  credit 
was  all  gone.  But  now  my  credit  is  good,  and  I 
will  tell  you  how  I  established  it.  In  the  first 
place,  I  resolved  not  to  ask  any  man  to  trust 
me  at  all  if  I  could  possibly  avoid  it ;  and  in  the 
second  place,  to  save  all  I  could  spare  from  my 
earnings,  and  pa}^  every  man  that  I  owed  as  fast 
as  I  could.     I  owed  several  hundred  dollars  in 


100  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

small  debts,  and  these  I  paid  as  fast  as  they 
called  on  me  ;  for  it  so  happened  that  I  liad  the 
money  as  fast  as  they  called,  and  my  larger 
debts  I  discharged  b}^  small  payments,  until  they 
were  all  paid.  In  the  third  place,  I  was  resolved 
to  be  perfectly  honest  in  every  sense  of  the 
word ;  on  one  occasion  a  merchant's  clerk, 
in  exchanging  money  for  goods  that  I  had 
bought,  paid  me  one  dollar  too  much,  I  soon 
found  it  out,  and  at  once  made  up  my  mind  to 
return  it.  Previous  to  this  I  had  asked  a  little 
credit  of  the  merchant,  which  would  have  been 
a  great  advantage  to  me,  as  I  could  have  finished 
my  work  to  much  better  advantage,  I  had 
traded  with  liim  considerably,  and  paid  the 
money.  But  he  very  politely  refused  me.  I 
asked  him  to  let  me  do  work  for  him  for  goods, 
as  he  sold  the  articles  I  manufactured ;  but  this 
he  said  he  could  not  do,  as  he  had  to  take  work 
from  several  persons.  As  I  was  going  into  the 
store  to  return  the  money,  the  enemy  told  me 
that  they  would  think  I  had  done  it  to  establish 
my  credit ;  but  I  silenced  the  temptation  by 
coming  to  the  determination  not  to  accept  of 
credit  if  offered,  I  paid  the  money,  and  that 
day  they  gave  me  work  to  the  amount  of  over 
one  hundred  dollars,  and  it  helped  me  much. 
On  another  occasion  the  merchant  made  a  mis- 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  101 

take  in  weighing,  which  made  about  seventy-five 
cents  in  my  favor.  This  I  paid  ;  and  after  that 
he  urged  me  to  buy  a  larger  quantity,  and  said 
he  would  take  my  note  at  five  or  six  months, 
and  give  me  a  chance  to  pay  it.  I  accepted  the 
offer  with  reluctance,  and  it  was  fifty  dollars' 
profit  to  me.  This  is  the  way  I  started,  and  I 
paid  at  the  very  time  it  was  due.  When  I  owed 
and  had  promised  payment,  the  money  v/as 
ready  at  the  time,  and  I  did  not  wait  to  be 
called  upon  for  it,  but  carried  it  myself.  This  is 
the  way  I  have  endeavored  to  do,  and  ever  mean 
to  do. 

And  another  thing:  I  never  undertake  any- 
thing without  asking  the  blessing  of  God;  and 
if  I  feel  that  I  have  not  the  approbation  of  God, 
I  let  it  alone.  He  that  told  us  to  ask  for  our 
bread  day  by  day,  has  told  us  to  make  all  our 
wants  known  by  supplication  and  prayer.  May 
the  Spirit  of  God  attend  this  history,  and  let  it 
have  the  desired  effect  on  every  reader ! 

Now,  reader,  if  you  have  relations  that  are 
the  worst  of  drunkards,  do  not  give  them  up, 
though  you  have  tried  a  hundred  times  to  stop 
their  course,  and  have  as  often  been  disappointed. 
Try  a  throne  of  grace.  God  can  hear  prayer — 
he  does  hear  prayer,  and  answers  prayer.  0 
what  cannot  be  done  by  mighty  prayer  !     Your 


102  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

friends  will  be  awakened — they  will  be  misera- 
ble— God  will  trouble  their  minds,  if  you  pray 
in  faith.  0  may  God  help  every  one  to  do  all 
he  can  to  stop  the  progress  of  intemperance  ! 
and  when  the  whole  Church  is  alive  to  this 
subject,  rumsellers  will  be  scarce  and  despised. 
I  do  not  believe  a  man  that  loves  God  can 
give  his  custom  to  a  grocer  that  sells  rum. 
No;  if  he  will  only  reflect  on  the  evil  that 
alcohol  has  done,  he  will  not  pass  a  temperance 
grocery  to  buy  of  a  vender  of  poison  that  per- 
haps is  about  to  be  administered  to  some  of  his 
near  relations. 

A  "  Reformed  Tavern  Keeper,"  on  reading 
the  preceding  sketch,  called  publicly  for  the 
publication  of  it  in  a  more  permanent  form.  The 
author,  in  order  to  make  it  more  complete  for 
this  purpose,  published  the  following  fuller  de- 
tails : — 

In  looking  over  one  of  the  numbers  of  the 
Christian  Advocate  and  Journal,  I  saw  a  request 
from  one  of  your  subscribers,  calling  himself  the 
"  Reformed  Tavern  Keeper,"  for  you  to  publish 
in  a  tract  the  narrative  of  a  man  that  had  been 
brought  from  the  lowest  state  of  intemperance, 
and  is  now  trying  to  work  out  his  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling.     I  am  that  man ;  and  as  I 


OF    MOKAL    RECOVERY.  103 

have  thought  it  likely  the  first  piece  would  be 
published,  I  have  supposed  it  would  be  ex- 
pedient for  me  to  write  more,  and  I  submit 
the  following  for  your  consideration.  I  have 
tried  to  excuse  myself  from  it  for  want  of 
learning.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  am  a 
very  poor  penman  and  a  worse  grammarian, 
for  that  you  already  see ;  but  with  a  warm 
heart,  and  a  soul  invigorated  by  the  love  of 
God  to  do  good,  and  try  and  counteract  the 
evil  of  my  former  days,  I  have  taken  my  pen 
again  to  write ;  and  0  may  the  Spirit  of 
the  Head  of  the  Church  direct  my  pen  and 
warm  my  heart,  and  attend  this  little  history 
wherever  it  may  go,  that  it  may  prove  a  bless- 
ing to  the  world,  and,  like  the  stone  from  the 
sling  of  the  shepherd-boy,  smite  down  that 
Goliath  that  hath  so  long  defied  the  armies  of 
the  cause  of  temperance,  and  cause  his  blood 
to  run  into  the  earth  instead  of  its  being  drunk 
by  the  deluded  sons  and  daughters  of  fallen 
man,  to  cause  them  to  be  a  burden  even  to 
themselves,  and  a  curse  in  the  world. 

There  is  no  being  on  earth  more  miserable 
than  the  drunkard.  Men  feel  for  the  heathen 
world  that  has  not  the  light  of  the  gospel, 
and  they  ought  to  feel  for  it;  but  the  poor 
drunkard   is   in  a  worse    state,  both   for  time 


104  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

and  eternity,  than  even  the  Hottentot  or  the 
negro  on  the  sands  of  Africa.     The  man  that 
has   fallen   a  victim    to  intemperance  is  more 
wretched  th^n  even  a  prisoner  kept  in  chains 
in  a  heathen  land,  that  has  been  taught  to  fear 
God;  for  in  that  state   he  will  call  on  God, 
and    God   will   hear    and    answer   his   prayer. 
And  if  he  is  not  relieved  of  his  chains  until 
death,  that  will  break  the  bands  asunder,  and 
his  happy  soul   will  fly  to  rest  with   God  in 
heaven.     While  the  drunkard  feels   his  chains 
galling  him  here,  and  his  poor  weak  frame  trem- 
bling, he  is  deaf  to  all  the  calls  of  mercy,  and 
is  exposed  every  moment  to  death,  both  tem- 
poral  and   eternal.      When   the   operation    of 
liquor  is  gone  off,  he  in  a  small  degree  sees 
himself,  and  would  be  glad  to  reform,  but  can- 
not, he  thinks.     Yes,  thousands  are  exposed  in 
this  way,  and  if  they  had  worlds  at  their  com- 
mand they  would  be  willing  to  give  them  to 
be  put  on  the   same   ground    that  they  once 
stood  on;  but  the  devil  and  their  own  thirst 
for  happiness  has  led  them  on,  step  by  step, 
until  they  find  that  they  are  caught  within  the 
walls  of  that  strong  prison,  Despair,  while  very 
few   ever   escape    when    once   they   fairly   get 
caught  in  it.     They  cry  and  weep,  they  mourn 
and  try  to  pray,  at  times.     They  resolve  and 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  105 

re-resolve  that  they  will  break  off.  How  often 
does  the  poor  deluded  man  say,  "  I  Avill  drink  no 
more ;"  and  he  really  thinks  that  he  shall  keep 
his  promise.  He  means  to  keep  it,  and  strug- 
gles for  a  while  against  his  appetite.  Fearful 
forebodings  are  running  through  his  mind.  His 
brain  is  affected ;  his  mind  is  distempered ;  he 
calls  all  his  reasonmg  powers  to  work  to  assist 
his  escape,  but  his  feelings  increase.  "What 
shall  I  do?"  he  says.  The  doctor,  the  devil, 
and  his  appetite  say,  "  You  must  take  a  little, 
and  taper  off"  by  degrees."  He  listens,  and  is 
glad  of  an  excuse  to  drink ;  and  if  the  doctor 
says  he  must,  he  then  feels  clear  to  do  it,  and 
takes  a  little,  but  is  still  bent  on  overcoming. 
He  feels  better,  and  takes  a  little  more.  His 
resolutions  are  all  prostrated.  He  is  shorn  of 
his  strength  again,  and  soon  is  worse  than  before 
he  undertook  to  reform. 

How  often  does  every  dnmkard  make  resolu- 
tions to  do  better  ?  It  is  a  very  easy  thing  for 
a  man  to  resolve  to  do  better ;  but  the  thing  is 
to  perform.  We  see  many  drunkards  in  our 
neighborhood  and  countiy,  and  some  of  them 
may  be  our  nearest  relations — a  father,  a  son, 
a  husband,  or  a  brother.  0  how  it  makes  us 
feel,  often,  when  we  contemplate  their  end ! 
It  makes  us  shudder  to  think  of  it.     We  have 


106  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

talked  to  them  time  and  again,  and  they  have 
promised  to  reform  and  do  better ;  and  at  times 
we  have  felt  encouraged,  and  thought  that  they 
would  ;  but,  of  a  sudden,  our  hopes  have  been 
blasted — we  have  seen  them  worse  and  worse, 
and  bidding  fairer  and  fairer  to  plunge  in  mis- 
ery. Shall  we  give  them  up,  and  let  them  go 
on  in  this  way  ?  No !  Now  I  will  tell  you,  my 
dear  reader,  something  more  about  my  wretched 
state  while  I  pursued  the  road  to  ruin;  and  if 
you  then  say  you  will  give  up  your  friends  that 
are  drunkards,  although  you  may  have  tried  again 
and  again,  I  fear  that  your  hearts  are  not  right 
in  the  sight  of  God.  And  you,  poor  drunkard, 
read  with  care,  and  may  the  Spirit  of  G-od  help 
you,  by  the  time  you  have  read  these  lines,  to 
say,  in  the  strength  of  God,  "  I  will  go  and  do 
likewise."  If  you  take  this  advice,  you  are  as 
sure  of  success  as  of  your  existence.  There  was, 
in  my  opinion,  but  one  step  between  me  and 
death.  Yes,  death  eternal  as  well  as  temporal. 
For  about  five  years  the  operation  of  liquor  was 
not  off  of  me  but  a  very  short  time,  if  at  all.  In 
my  first  sketch  you  have  read  the  manner  in 
which  I  began.  It  was  one  steady,  onward 
course  of  intemperance.  For  the  first  three  or 
four  years  my  nerves  kept  pretty  strong ;  but  at 
the  latter  part  of  the   thiid  year,  I  began  to 


OF   MORAL    RECOVERY.  107 

tremble  and  shake  as  soon  as  the  operation  of 
liquor  was  off  in  the  least.  I  drank  excessively 
of  brandy  every  day ;  but  it  was  not  strong 
enough  to  keep  me  steady ;  and  the  last  thing 
before  going  to  bed,  I  had  to  take  a  glass  of 
liquor ;  and  as  soon  as  the  light  appeared  in  the 
morning,  the  first  rum-hole  I  could  find  open  I 
was  in.  But  0  how  I  felt  after  I  had  one  nap ! 
The  rest  of  the  night  I  only  dozed,  and  often 
felt  afraid  that  the  devil  would  come  and  carry 
me  off  before  raornincy :  althoufrh  I  was  striving 
to  believe  that  there  was  no  devil,  yet  I  feared 
one.  At  the  commencement  of  the  fifth  year, 
I  had  to  begin  to  take  some  liquor  to  bed  with 
me,  often  putting  in  peppermint  or  something 
else,  saying  to  the  landlord  that  I  had  the  colic, 
or  the  like,  to  blind  his  eyes,  for  I  did  not  then 
want  people  to  think  I  was  a  drunkard.  I  have 
started  hundreds  of  times  to  reform  myself,  and 
often  made  solemn  vows  to  God  that  I  would 
stop.  Yes,  even  oaths  have  I  violated.  At 
one  time  I  took  a  solemn  oath  not  to  drink  any- 
thing stronger  than  cider  for  one  year.  I  kept 
the  oath  for  about  six  months ;  but  during  that 
time  I  poured  down  the  cider  instead  of  drink- 
ing it.  Cider,  however,  began  to  be  scarce,  and 
I  found  I  should  soon  have  to  go  without,  yet 
I  thought  it  would  not  do  at  all  to  break  my 


108  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

oath;  but  the  devil  helped  me  to  tell  a  lie  to 
hide  my  shame.  I  had  said  I  would  not  drink 
any  hquor  except  it  was  ordered  by  a  doctor. 
I  pretended  to  be  sick.  I  had  a  pain  in  my 
breast,  and  I  told  the  doctor,  and  he  said  a  little 
good  brandy,  with  some  roots  he  would  give 
me,  would  do  me  good,  and  my  appetite  would 
return  and  I  should  be  better.  Then  I  took  it, 
and  thought  I  had  cheated  the  devil ;  but  the 
devil  had  cheated  me.  At  another  time  I  prom- 
ised God,  if  he  would  only  still  that  trembhng 
of  my  hands  and  limbs,  so  that  I  could  get  along 
with  my  work,  that  I  would  never  drink  any 
more.  That  night  I  was  really  afraid  I  should 
never  see  daylight  again ;  but  in  the  morning  I 
arose,  and,  to  my  astonishment,  my  hands  were 
steady,  the  trembling  had  left  me,  and  I  ate  my 
breakfast  with  a  better  appetite  than  I  had  for 
months  before.  I  went  in  this  way  for  two  or 
three  days,  and  began  to  feel  like  another  man ; 
but  I  ate  some  fruit,  or  something  that  made 
it  necessary  for  me  to  take  medicine.  The  doc- 
tor proposed  castor-oil,  and  fixed  some  in  a  glass. 
He  put  in  some  gin,  and  then  the  oil.  I  took  it 
in  my  hand  and  smelt  of  it.  I  knew  what  it 
was,  and  told  the  doctor  I  would  rather  take  it 
in  water,  or  alone ;  but  he  said  that  the  gin  was 
best  for  me.     I  drank  it,  but  not  without  such 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERY.  109 

feelings  of  soul  that  I  trembled  from  head  to 
foot.  I  left  the  office  of  the  doctor,  and  0  how 
I  felt  temptations  come  on  me  anew !  I  lost 
all  power  to  resist,  and  in  less  than  one  hour  I 
had  dmnk  several  small  glasses  of  liquor.  O 
what  a  mercy  it  is  that  I  am  out  of  hell !  From 
that  time  I  had  to  take  hquor  to  bed  with  me 
every  night.  My  friends  pleaded  with  me  to 
reform.  I  would  promise  to  do  it,  but  I  had 
not  the  power.  I  began  to  fail.  Large  blotches,^ 
or  sores,  came  out  on  my  face,  so  much  so  that 
many  were  afraid  that  I  had  the  small-pox.  In 
til  is  state  I  passed  day  after  day ;  but  none  but 
the  poor  drunkard  can  tell  how  I  felt.  At 
times  I  felt  as  though  a  thousand  needles  were 
stuck  in  me  at  once ;  and  when  I  began  to  get 
asleep,  all  at  once  my  flesh  felt  as  though  pins 
or  needles  were  stuck  all  over  me,  and  I  would 
increase  my  quantity  of  hquor  until  I  fell  asleep. 
Then  people  said  my  eyes  were  open  the  most 
of  the  time,  and  that  I  was  constantly  talking  or 
springing  about.  It  sometimes  happened  that  I 
had  some  one  to  sleep  in  the  same  room  with  me, 
and  they  have  said  that  thej^  were  afraid  to  go 
to  sleep,  for  fear  I  should  die ;  for  they  said  my 
breath  seemed  to  be  gone  for  a  minute  or  more 
at  once,  and  that,  when  I  did  fetch  a  breath,  I 
would  scream  out  and  start  as  though  I  would 


110  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

have  jumped  out  of  bed.  Frightful  dreams  tor- 
mented me  while  asleep ;  and  when  awake,  I 
felt  like  a  devil  tormented  within,  as  I  said  in  my 
former  sketch.  I  began  to  feel  that  my  end 
was  nigh.  I  asked  the  opinion  of  several  doc- 
tors about  my  leaving  off  drink  all  at  once,  for 
I  was  well  convinced  that  I  could  not  leave  off 
any  other  way.  But  they  all  said  it  would  be 
dangerous  for  me  to  stop  all  at  once.  I  should 
bring  on  the  brain-fever,  and  fall  a  victim  to 
death  at  once.  They  further  said  it  was  death 
for  me  to  continue  in  the  way  I  was  going ;  and 
some  of  them  said  they  should  not  think  it 
strange  if  I  did  not  live  one  week.  They  all 
said  I  could  not  live  two  months  longer  if  I 
pursued  the  couise  I  was  then  going.  In  this 
state  of  mind  the  information  was  near  proving 
fatal  to  me,  for  I  was  resolved  that  it  never 
should  be  said  to  my  relations,  "Your  brother 
or  son  died  a  drunkard."  My  relatives  were 
respectable,  and  I  felt  for  them.  I  left  New- 
York  on  board  of  a  steamboat,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  going  to  the  south  as  far  as  my  money 
would  carry  me,  of  destroying  all  my  papers 
that  would  give  any  clew  to  my  name  or  where 
I  was  from,  and  of  going  by  some  fictitious 
name,  and  then  of  taking  laudanum  or  brandy 
sufficient  to  put  me  into  that  sleep  from  which 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  Ill 

I  should  never  wake  again ;  but  before  we  had 
got  to  the  first  stopping-place  I  became  crazj. 
Men  on  board  have  since  told  me  that  I  told 
them  what  I  have  just  stated,  and  that  I  said, 
as  no  one  knew  me  on  board,  it  was  no  use  for 
me  to  2:0  that  distance  to  commit  suicide ;  that 
I  was  on  the  point  of  jumping  overboard  just 
forward  of  the  wheel,  and  that  the  man  that 
caught  hold  of  me  had  to  get  help  to  pull  me 
back  into  the  boat.  0,  what  a  mercy  of  God ! 
How  near  I  was  then  to  the  lake  of  fire !  I 
now  came  to  the  resolution  to  die  sober,  if  I 
could  live  to  get  sober.  I  e.xpected  to  die.  As 
I  have  already  given  many  particulars  of  my 
history  down  to  the  day  when  God  spoke 
peace  to  my  soul,  I  shall  only  tell  of  some  of 
my  feelings  that  I  omitted  before,  in  hopes  that 
if  any  poor  creature  undertakes  to  reform,  he 
will  not  get  discouraged,  and  fly  to  his  cup 
for  relief.  The  afternoon  that  I  began  to  cry 
aloud  to  God  for  mercy,  it  appeared  to  me 
in  my  delirium  that  I  saw  and  conversed  with 
what  I  then  thought  to  be  men  for  several 
hours.  I  had  retired  to  the  woods,  and  these 
men,  as  I  took  them  to  be,  used  the  most 
awful  blasphemy  that  I  ever  heard.  They 
kept  me  there  for  several  hours,  hiding  from 
one  place  to  another,  until  I  started  on  a  run 


112  REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

as  fast  as  my  poor  feeble  frame  could  carry 
me  away,  and  I  looked  not  behind  me  until 
I  had  got  out  of  the  woods  into  the  high- 
way. I  expected  every  moment  to  be  cut 
down.  After  I  had  got  out  I  looked  back, 
and  could  see  them  dodging  about  in  the 
woods,  and  hear  their  oaths  that  I  should  not 
see  another  day.  I  went  to  my  boarding- 
place,  and  they  came  off  into  the  fields  before 
the  house ;  but  no  one  could  see  them  but  me. 
I  went  into  a  bedroom  and  thought  I  would 
lie.  down ;  but  as  soon  as  I  sat  on  the  side  of 
the  bed  two  of  them  came  through  the  glass 
window.  They  then  dropped  the  form  of  men 
for  that  of  devils.  I  screamed  aloud,  and  left 
the  room.  One  of  them  came  two  or  three 
times  and  blew  smoke  into  my  face,  and  said, 
"  Smell  of  hell !"  It  seemed  that  it  would  stop 
my  breath  the  last  time  it  was  done.  I  verily 
thought  I  never  should  breathe  again.  Whether 
what  I  saw  and  heard  was  a  reality,  or  imagina- 
tion, it  mattered  not  to  me.  I  thought  it  was 
all  just  as  it  appeared  to  be.  I  took  the 
Bible  from  the  shelf,  and  held  it  as  with  a 
death-gripe ;  but  those  monsters  told  me  it 
was  of  no  use  for  me,  for  my  damnation  was 
sealed,  and  that  that  very  night  I  should  be 
among  the  damned   in  hell.     But   that   made 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  113 

me  cry  the  harder  for  help.  At  that  time  I 
was  on  the  very  verge  of  eternity ;  I  expected 
to  die :  my  poor  soul  began  to  flutter  like  a 
bird  in  its  cage,  and  the  clay  tenement  began 
to  totter,  and  was  on  the  point  of  falling.  I 
took  a  view  of  eternity,  of  eternal  pains.  The 
pains  of  hell  had  got  hold  of  me.  Minutes  were 
hours  to  me. 

jSTow,  reader,  just  try  to  imagine  yourself  on 
the  point  of  leaving  the  world,  and  devils  stand- 
ing around  you  ready  to  seize  jour  trembling 
spirit,  to  drag  it  down  to  misery  and  pain  with- 
out tb.e  least  shadow  of  escape,  if  you  can ; 
and  then  you  Avill  have  a  little  idea  of  my  feel- 
ings. At  one  time  my  breath  stopped,  and  I 
fell  to  the  ground  for  dead,  and  how  long  I 
lay  in  that  state  I  cannot  tell ;  but  when  I 
came  to  myself  I  was  surprised  that  I  was 
not  dead.  I  had  given  up  all  hopes  ;  but  as 
hfe  was  left,  like  a  man  drowning  I  held  up 
my  hands  for  help,  and  again  began  to  cry, 
*'  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner !"  Then  I 
Avould  open  the  Bible,  and  try  to  read  ;  but 
the  devil  seemed  to  stand  at  my  side,  and 
would  read  faster  than  I  could,  and  then  in- 
terpret it  to  suit  himself.  I  got  some  of  the 
family  to  read  for  me,  but  dared  not  let  my 
hand  be  off  the  Bible.  At  that  time  I  took  a 
8 


114  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

solemn  oath  on  the  Bible  that  I  never  would 
drink  any  more  liquor  of  any  kind,  nor  wine, 
cider,  or  beer ;  and  if  I  did  perish,  it  should 
be  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  crying  for  mercy. 
A  voice  spoke  to  me  in  language  the  most 
loving  that  I  ever  heard,  "  No  one  ever  perished 
there."  My  soul  was  filled  with  love.  I  was 
as  happy  as  I  before  was  miserable ;  but  it  was 
for  a  moment  only,  and  I  was  again  in  misery. 
But  I  had  a  little  hope  of  obtaining  mercy. 
The  devil  seemed  not  to  come  within  several  feet 
of  me  any  m.ore  ;  but  0  how  venomous  he  looked 
at  me !  and  after  a  few  moments  some  ten  or 
fifteen  demons  seemed  to  stand  together,  and 
talked  so  low  that  I  could  not  understand  them ; 
but  they  would  turn  and  look  at  me,  till  at  last 
they  gave  an  awful  howl — a  noise  unlike  everj 
other  noise  that  I  ever  heard — and  fled.  I  could 
hear  them  for  some  minutes,  till  the  noise  at  last 
ceased  ;  and,  blessed  be  God  !  they  have  not  re- 
turned again.*  That  night  I  spent  in  praying 
until  near  daylight,  and  by  much  persuasion  I 
lay  down  without  the  thought  that  I  should  get 
to  sleep  ;  but  I  did  fall  into  a  sleep,  and  lay  until 
the  sun  was  up.  When  I  arose,  the  neighbors 
had  got  together,  several  of  them,  to  see  what 
'^  These  "horrors"  are  familiar  to  medical  men 
who  have  attended  such  cases. 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  115 

strange  thing  had  happened;  for  the  family 
thought  I  was  a  second  Faustus,  and  that  the 
devil  would  carry  me  off,  soul  and  body.  They 
were  much  alarmed — so  much  so  that  they  dared 
not  leave  the  house  that  night.  They  asked  me 
how  I  felt.  I  told  them  like  a  devil  in  torment. 
Some  of  them  said  I  ought  to  be  ashamed  of 
myself  to  act  as  I  did  the  preceding  night,  fright- 
ening the  family ;  for  they  seemed  to  believe 
that  what  I  did  was  all  to  gratify  my  malice. 
I  tried  in  vain  to  make  them  think  differently ; 
but  some  others  believed  me,  and  tried  to  en- 
courage me. 

I  had  learned  that  morning  that  a  camp- 
meeting  at  Haverstraw  was  to  be  kept  over 
Sunday.  I  proposed  to  go  ;  but  they  would 
not  agree  to  it,  for  still  they  thought  me  to  be 
deranged.  They  kept  a  watch  over  me  every 
time  I  left  the  house,  for  fear  that  I  should  com- 
mit suicide,  or  start  for  the  camp-meeting.  I 
w^alked  about  seeking  for  rest  or  ease  of  mind, 
but  found  none.  No,  I  could  not  even  shed  a 
tear.  My  heart  was  hard,  and  I  felt  as  though 
I  should  burst  asunder.  0  who  can  paint  with 
a  pen  the  feelings  of  my  heart !  I  was  expect- 
ing every  hour  would  be  my  last.  My  poor 
soul  was  crying  for  help,  and,  like  a  bird  try- 
ing to  fly  from   its  pursuer,   was   fluttering  to 


116  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

depart  from  its  clay  tenement,  the  walls  of 
which  were  tottering  to  their  fall,  and  eternity- 
was  just  at  hand.  The  thought  of  eternal  pains, 
and  the  justice  of  that  sentence,  was  so  plain  to 
me  that  I  felt  it  was  my  due,  and  my  just  re- 
ward. The  throne  of  God  was  clear — I  alone 
was  guilty  before  God,  But  although  I  saw  it 
was  just,  0  how  my  poor  fallen  spirit  sought  for 
help  !  This  was  on  Friday.  About  noon  I 
went  into  the  garret,  and  got  in  behind  the 
chimney  on  my  knees  before  God,  and  there  I 
tried  to  pray.  The  thoughts  of  former  days 
came  to  my  mind,  I  saw  the  days  of  my  early 
youth,  the  care  of  a  pious  mother,  the  hour  of 
my  espousal  to  Christ,  the  happy  hours  I  had 
enjoyed  in  my  closet,  the  love  of  God  to  me,  and 
m}^  ingratitude  to  him.  My  hard  heart  began 
to  soften  more  and  more  until  the  hardness  was 
all  gone,  and  a  flood  of  tears  came  from  ray  eyes, 
which  were  the  first  that  I  could  shed.  I  cried 
aloud  for  mercy  again.  The  family  heard  me, 
and  came  around  me  to  try  and  stop  me.  They 
said  I  was  surely  crazy  ;  but  like  the  blind  man 
by  the  way  I  cried  the  harder,  until  I  was  ex- 
hausted ;  yet  no  relief  for  me  was  to  be  found. 
I  again  tried  to  get  some  of  them  to  go  with  me 
to  the  camp-meeting,  but  in  vain ;  and  they 
would  not  let  me  be  out  of  sight  a   moment 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  Il7 

after,  that  day.  I  slept  a  little  on  Friday  night, 
if  I  might  call  it  sleep  ;  but  it  was  only  for  a 
few  minutes  at  once.  I  came  to  the  full  deter- 
mination, that  night,  to  go  to  the  camp-meeting 
the  next  day,  at  all  hazards ;  but  said  nothing 
about  it.  On  Saturday  morning  I  said  but  very 
little,  but  walked  out  a  number  of  times,  some 
way  from  the  house,  and  returned,  until  they 
got  tired  of  watching  me  so  closely  ;  and  then  I 
started  through  the  woods,  for  I  dared  not  keep 
tlie  road  for  fear  of  being  pursued  and  brought 
back.  Every  noise  I  heard  made  me  start.  I 
was  afraid  the  devil  would  again  come  and  take 
me  off,  soul  and  body.  I  ran  until  I  was  out  of 
breath  and  got  into  a  thicket  of  bushes,  for  a 
little  while,  and  prayed  again  to  God  to  help  me 
to  get  to  the  meeting.  0  what  temptations  I 
had  while  I  was  going !  The  devil  told  me  that 
I  was  so  bad  no  one  would  pray  for  me  after  I 
had  got  there ;  and  that  it  was  of  no  use  for 
me  to  go.  I  had  no  money  ;  for  they  had  taken 
my  money  all  out  of  my  pocket,  to  keep  me 
from  going,  and  I  had  to  cross  the  North  River 
to  get  to  the  meeting.  They  even  said,  "  When 
you  get  to  the  river  you  cannot  cross  without 
money ;  and  if  you  attempt  it,  they  will  not 
land  you,  but  take  you  back  again."  I  was  on 
the  point  of  giving  up  a  number  of  times ;  but, 


118  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

bless  the  Lord,  I  did  not.  A  thought  came  to 
my  mind  that  a  man  owed  me  a  few  shillings,  on 
the  way,  and  I  started  for  his  house.  He  had  no 
money,  he  said.  I  plead  with  him  to  borrow  it 
for  me.  At  last  he  gave  me  an  order  for  seven 
shillings  on  a  store  ;  and  I  took  it  and  gave  him 
a  receipt  in  full,  and  went  with  a  much  lighter 
heart  than  before.  I  presented  the  order ;  the 
man  said  I  owed  him  three  and  sixpence,  and  he 
would  deduct  that  and  give  me  the  balance.  I 
consented,  and  he  gave  me  three  and  sixpence, 
and  offered  to  treat  me ;  but  it  was  no  tempta- 
tion to  me.  That  money  was  more  precious  to 
me  than  any  I  ever  had  before  ;  for  it  appeared  to 
me  my  salvation  entirely  depended  on  my  getting 
to  the  assembly  of  the  people  of  God,  and  I  could 
not  get  there  without  money.  It  was  now  night, 
and  I  was  several  miles  from  the  river,  and  there 
would  be  no  chance  for  me  to  s'et  there  that 
night.  The  store-keeper  observed  that  something 
was  the  matter  with  me,  and  invited  me  to  stay 
all  night  with  him  free  of  expense.  I  con- 
sented, and  he  invited  me  to  tea — I  ate  a  httle. 

That  night,  while  kneeling  by  my  bed,  praying 
to  God  to  help  me  to  the  meeting,  it  appeared 
to  me  that  I  ought  to  pray  to  God  for  help 
then ;  that  I  should  look  to  Christ  just  as  I  was, 
and  I  should  be  saved.     But  1  thought  it  was  a 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  119 

temptation,  and  dared  not  do  it.  I  have  since 
seen  tliat  it  was  my  privilege  and  duty ;  but 
sucli  a  great  sinner  as  I  was  I  thought  could  not 
come  unless  he  had  a  great  many  good  men 
pleading  with  God  for  him  at  once;  and  I 
thouD-ht  for  their  sakes  God  would  hear  me.     I 

o 

have  since  seen  that  it  is  only  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  Christ  that  he  can  or  will  pardon  the  sin- 
ner ;  and  that  for  his  sake  he  will  pardon  even 
the  chief  of  sinners  that  will  plead  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  and  depend  solely  on  the  merits  of 
Christ  for  help.     But  I  must  be  more  brief. 

On  Sunday  morning  I  started  for  the  encamp- 
ment again.  I  got  there  a  little  past  twelve 
o'clock  in  the  day.  The  first  man  that  I  met  on 
the  ground  was  a  local  preacher.  He  asked  me 
what  I  had  come  for.  I  told  him  that  I  had 
come  to  see  if  God  would  have  mercy  on  me ; 
but  that  I  feared  my  day  of  grace  was  gone, 
and  that  I  should  be  damned.  He  said  he 
should  not  think  it  strange  if  that  was  the  case, 
for  I  was  a  great  sinner,  besides  a  backslider ; 
and  that  I  had  trampled  under  my  feet  the  Son 
of  God,  as  it  were,  and  he  thought  it  likely  God 
had  given  me  up  to  believe  a  lie,  to  be  damned ; 
but  that  I  had  best  try  to  pray,  for  the  mercy 
of  God  was  veiy  great.  The  man  was  honest 
to  me ;  he  said  just  as  he  thought.     He  knew 


120  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

me,  and  knew  of  my  embracing  infidel  principles, 
and  I  verily  believe  that  he  thought  my  damna- 
tion was  sealed.  He  did  not  know  what  had 
happened  to  me. 

What  he  said  to  me  well  nigh  proved  my  ruin. 
The  devil  took  the  advantage  of  it,  and  I  started 
into  the  woods  with  a  full  determination  to  com- 
mit suicide.  "  Now,"  said  the  devil,  "  I  told  you 
that  they  would  not  pray  for  you.  The  Method- 
ists have  given  you  up  a  long  time  ago,  and  they 
are  the  last  people  that  will  give  any  one  up." 
It  looked  all  true,  for  no  Methodist  that  knew  my 
principles  had  for  a  year  said  anything  to  me  of 
my  danger,  but  all  seemed  to  shun  me. 

You  of  my  readers  that  have  visited  the  camp- 
ground at  Haverstraw  will  recollect  a  mountain 

o 

south  of  the  ground.  I  bent  my  steps  toAvard 
that,  to  try  and  climb  to  the  top  of  a  ledge  of 
rocks,  from  which  I  meant  to  throw  myself 
down  headlong,  and  dash  myself  to  pieces ;  but 
my  strength  failed  me  to  climb  the  hill.  I  then 
tried  to  climb  a  tree,  but  was  too  weak.  I  then 
took  my  knife  from  my  pocket,  but  it  was  dull. 
I  feared  that  I  could  not  pcrfoi'm  the  deed  with 
it  if  I  tried.  0  my  God  !  wliat  a  critical  moment 
tins  was  witli  me!  My  guardian  angel  was  on  the 
veiy  point  of  leaving  me.  I  stood  on  the  brink  of 
eternity ;  and  if  angels  are  permitted  to  feel  for  the 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  121 

woes  of  those  tliey  have  guarded,  the  angel  of 
mercy  that  had  watched  me  from  my  infancy  up 
to  that  period,  and  had  rejoiced  at  my  espousals 
to  Christ  years  before  that  period,  and  had  for 
a  few  days  been  watching  and  guarding  me  with 
the  expectation  of  my  return  to  Christ,  to  see 
me  on  the  very  eve  of  taking  my  own  life,  must 
have  fetched  a  sigh, — yes,  and  I  have  thought 
was  taking  his  flight  when  Christ  again  sent  his 
blessed  Spirit  to  plead  with  me.  The  devil  tri- 
umphed around  me,  no  doubt;  but  0,  blessed 
be  God — yes,  glory,  and  honor,  and  power  be 
ascribed  to  him  forever  and  ever — for  his  inter- 
position at  that  time.  I  held  the  fatal  weapon 
in  my  hand,  felt  its  edge,  and  was  on  the  very 
eve  of  stabbing  the  large  artery  of  the  neck.  I 
had  laid  off  my  cravat  and  put  back  my  collar ; 
and  nothing  but  the  goodness  of  God  saved  me. 
Vf  ell  may  I  say,  "  My  enemies  were  too  strong 
for  me ;  but  the  Lord  helped  me."  The  Spirit 
of  God  led  me  back  to  the  encampment  again. 

I  came  to  a  praying  circle,  and  heard  the 
mourners  crying  for  mercy.  I  stood  and  looked 
on,  but  felt  worse  and  more  hardened,  I  never 
liad  such  feelings  before  nor  since.  I  believe 
tluit  it  was  the  spirit  of  the  devil ;  for  I  felt  as 
though  I  would  have  been  glad  to  destroy 
every  one  around  me.      I   could   hardly  keep 


122  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

from  swearing  right  out  at  them.  But  while 
I  stood  there,  a  httle  boy,  about  ten  or  twelve 
years  old,  was  awakened  by  ray  side,  and  fell 
down  on  his  little  knees,  and  with  streaming 
eyes  looking  toward  heaven,  with  one  hand  on 
my  knee,  cried  out  in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul, 
"  O  God,  have  mercy  on  me  a  sinner,  a  great 
sinner."  The  sight  was  too  much  for  me.  I 
began  to  tremble.  A  young  man  that  loved 
God  saw  me,  and  came  to  me,  and  asked  me  if 
I  did  not  want  religion.  I  told  him  I  did,  but 
that  my  day  of  grace  was  gone  by.  He  said  it 
was  not,  and  that  he  was  sure  God  would  again 
accept  me,  if  I  would  but  return  to  him.  I  could 
stand  no  longer  on  my  feet,  and  fell  prostrate 
before  God,  crying  for  help.  I  prayed  the 
most  of  the  night  and  day  following,  and  on  the 
evening  of  Monday,  in  the  very  place  where  I 
first  kneeled,  my  burden  was  rolled  off,  and  my 
poor  troubled  heart  was  again  cheered  by  the 
lamp  of  life. 

ISTow  let  me  say  to  every  one  that  is  yet  this 
side  of  eternity.  Though  your  sins  are  as  crim- 
son or  scarlet,  the  blood  of  Christ  can  remove 
all  the  guilt  and  set  you  free;  and  to  you, 
poor,  despised  man,  who  hath  ruined  thyself, 
and  hast  for  a  long  time  given  up  all  hopes 
of  better  days,  There  is  yet  hope  in  your  case. 


OP    MORAL   RECOVERY.  123 

You  are  out  of  hell — that  hell  which  will  be 
eternal,  if  you  go,  perhaps,  another  step  that 
way.  0  stop  and  consider  for  a  few  moments. 
Poor  man,  you  are  in  misery.  All  your  thirst 
is  for  rum.  As  soon  as  you  awake,  your  first 
care  is  to  get  your  bitters.  Your  stomach  almost 
heaves  as  you  take  it.  But  you  are  in  misery ; 
you  feel  that  you  are  despised,  and  perhaps  none 
you  see  speak  kindly  to  you,  but  all  shun  and 
despise  you.  While  you  haA'-e  money,  the  rum- 
dealer  will  be  friendly  to  you,  or  at  least  make 
you  think  so ;  but  when  you  have  no  money, 
you  see  his  friendship  is  gone.  Now,  drunkard, 
my  heart  bleeds  for  you.  Yet  the  very  worst 
of  you  may  come  to  Christ,  and  without  money ; 
yes,  bless  the  Lord !  his  arms  are  extended  to 
help  you.     0  come  ! 

I  am  fully  satisfied  that  the  greatest  drunkard 
now  in  the  city  of  New -York  might  reform,  if 
he  would  only  use  the  means  God  has  blessed 
him  with.  Now,  dear  man,  stop  and  let  us  rea- 
son for  a  few  moments  on  the  subject.  I  say, 
if  you  are  alive,  there  is  a  chance  for  you  to 
reform  and  save  your  soul.  But  you  say  that 
you  have  often  tried,  and  as  often  been  defeated ; 
and  that  you  have  followed  a  course  of  intem- 
perance so  long  that  now  you  cannot  stop  with- 
out causing  immediate  death.     Perhaps  your 


124  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

doctor  tells  you  the  same.  You  tremble  at  the 
thought  of  death ;  you  look  around  on  your 
friends,  if  you  have  any — perhaps  a  broken- 
hearted wife,  and  poor,  almost  naked  children. 
You  are  filled  with  horror  at  the  thoughts  of 
your  own  and  your  family's  situation ;  you  feel 
a  hell  within,  and  say  to  j'^ourself,  "  I  am  undone, 
and  it  is  too  late  for  me  to  reform  ;"  and  as  soon 
as  the  light  opens,  away  you  go  for  your  bitters. 
Instead  of  providing  for  your  hungry  children, 
the  money  is  spent  for  rum,  or  you  contract  a 
debt  with  the  grocer,  to  be  paid  out  of  your 
week's  work,  that  amounts  to  as  much  as  the 
bread  for  your  family.  When  you  consider  this, 
you  in  your  heart  pity  your  wife  and  children ; 
but  how  often  does  that  woman  whom  you 
pledged  your  vows  to  God  to  protect,  meet 
your  cruel  treatment !  Yes,  although  she  is 
your  best  friend,  yet,  while  under  the  influence 
of  liquor,  you  take  her  to  be  your  worst  enemy. 
But  I  do  not  want  to  harrow  up  your  mind 
too  much  in  this  way.  I  said  there  was  a  cure 
for  you ;  and  that  wife  and  those  children  of 
yours  can  yet  be  made  happy.  Yes,  your  fire- 
side can  yet  be  made  to  smile,  and  you  take 
comfort,  and  be  a  comfort  to  your  family,  and 
an  honor  to  your  neighborhood. 

Now  for  the  cure.    In  the  first  place,  you  must 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  125 

come  to  this  resolution  :  /  will  never  drink  miy 
more  liquor.  And  that  is  not  enough  :  you  must 
not  drink  wine,  cider,  or  beer,  nor  take  any  drug 
that  will  in  any  way  cause  excitement  or  intoxica- 
tion. But  you  say,  "  I  have  often  made  such  reso- 
lutions." Stop — how  did  you  resolve  ?  Your 
resolutions  were  good  as  far  as  you  carried  them 
out.  You  kept  from  drink  for  a  while  ;  but  you 
had  that  hankering  thirst  left  for  drink,  and  you 
reasoned  with  the  enemy  and  your  own  feelings, 
instead  of  resisting  the  temptation,  *'A  httle 
will  do  me  no  harm,  but  good,"  your  feelings 
say;  and  the  devil  will  help  it  on.  Now,  as 
often  as  you  thus  reason,  you  are  growing 
w-eaker  and  weaker  until  you  fall.  But  resist 
the  devil  and  he  Avill  flee  from  you.  Use  vio- 
lence with  your  feelings.  Say,  and  continue  to 
say,  "  I  will  drink  no  more,  let  my  feelings  be  what 
they  will."  You  had  better  suffer  a  little  while 
here  than  suffer  eternal  pain.  Do  not  reason 
any  more  with  the  devil,  nor  the  doctor,  nor 
your  own  feelings.  I  am  certain  5^ou  can  and 
will  overcome.  Hold  on.  But  you  begin  to 
feel  like  death  :  yes,  you  think  you  are  dying 
now ;  vour  breath  is  short  and  trembling ;  vou 
feel  that  you  are  sinking.  But  hold  on — do  not 
be  alarmed  at  all  at  that;  call  on  God,  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  help ;   and  although 


126  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

you  may  feel  as  tliougli  the  heavens  were  brass 
to  your  cry,  yet  hope  in  the  mercy  of  God,  and 
say — and  not  only  say,  but  feel — that  you  will 
die  before  you  will  again  take  one  drop.  Keep 
repeating  your  vow,  and  call  on  God  for  help, 
and  say,  "  If  I  do  die  and  perish,  it  shall  be  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross."  Recollect  the  voice  that 
spake  to  me,  that  no  one  ever  perished  there. 
But  you  feel  worse  and  worse ;  strange  voices 
are  breaking  in  on  your  ear;  fearful  figures 
are  presented  to  your  vision;  you  fancy  you 
ah-eady  hear  the  howls  of  the  damned ;  but  do 
not  despair.  Your  friends  may  call  for  a  doc- 
tor, and  he  will  be  sure  to  order  you  something 
that  will  stimulate.  Touch  it  not  at  your  peril. 
You  have  come  to  the  worst  of  it  if  you  are 
fixed  in  your  mind  to  drink  no  more.  I  told 
you  that  at  one  time  I  thought  I  was  dead. 
Yes,  I  fell  to  the  earth,  and  how  long  I  lay  in 
that  state  I  know  not ;  but,  blessed  be  God !  I 
am  alive  yet.  Do  you  say,  "  How  long  shall 
I  feel  thus  ?"  Perhaps  several  days ;  but  what 
are  days  to  years  ?  and  what  are  years  to  hund- 
reds of  years  ?  and  what  are  hundreds  of  years 
to  thousands  and  milhons  of  years?  and  what 
are  thousands  and  millions  of  years  to  eternity  ? 
0  eternity !  who  can  calculate  or  reckon  it  ? 
When  compared  to  time  at  the  greatest  extent 


or    MORAL    RECOVERY.  127 

we  can  calculate,  it  dwindles  into  a  mere  cipher, 
and  leaves  the  astonished  mind  lost  in  the  cal- 
culation. Now  a  few  days  of  pain  are  wonder- 
fully grievous.  Days  and  nights  appear  like 
months  or  years.  Now  you  hope  for  better  days ; 
but  if  you  enter  the  eternal  world  in  your  sins, 
your  hopes  will  be  gone ;  if  you  yield,  you  are 
gone ;  but  if  you  hold  on  for  a  little  time,  God 
will  give  you  strength,  and  those  impossibihties 
will  vanish  like  a  shadow.  You  have  not  always 
to  undergo  such  feelings.  No,  you  are  near  the 
kingdom ;  so  do  not,  for  your  soul's  sake,  let 
go  your  hold,  nor  reason  for  one  moment  whether 
you  may  drink  or  not.  I  fancy  I  see  you,  poor 
man,  now  about  to  halt ;  but  stop,  call  on  God 
for  help,  and  he  will  deliver  you.  I  see  you 
have  at  last  overcome.  You  begin  to  feel  bet- 
ter ;  you  have  found  relief ;  you  feel  like  another 
man ;  you  rejoice  that  you  have  overcome ;  you 
look  back  with  a  shudder  to  see  where  you  were, 
but  with  gratitude  of  heart  to  God  for  your  deliv- 
erance. Yet  do  not  think  the  devil  is  dead ;  if 
you  do,  you  will  be  much  mistaken.  He  is  going 
about  seeking  whom  he  may  devour.  He  will  at- 
tack you  again,  and  in  a  way  that  will  assuredly 
deceive  you,  if  you  are  not  very  careful :  you 
may  be  unwell,  or  exposed  to  the  cold,  and  in 
danger  of  getting  sick.     In  that  way  the  devil 


128  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

maj  prompt  some  of  your  real  friends  to  advise 
you  to  take  a  little,  for  tbey  do  not  know  the 
consequence.  But  do  not  forget  the  charge : 
you  must  not  reason  with  friends  or  foes  on  that 
subject.  Be  firm  in  your  integrity,  and  be  not 
shaken  in  it :  if  you  do,  you  are  gone  again. 
Now  with  me  it  would  be  no  temptation  to 
drink,  if  the  most  skillful  doctor  in  the  State  of 
New-York  should  tell  me  that  I  would  die  in 
an  hour  if  I  did  not ;  for  then  I  would  die,  if 
notliing  else  would  save  me,  for  I  had  rather 
fall  a  martyr  to  my  resolution  than  risk  my 
soul.  I  fancy  I  see  you  now  established  in 
faith — you,  who  but  a  little  time  ago  was  a  mon- 
ster, are  now  clothed,  and  in  your  right  mind,  and 
walking  in  wisdom's  ways.  0  may  the  Angel 
of  his  presence  go  with  you !  and  though  you 
never  in  this  life  know  the  feeble  instrument  that 
God  hath  been  pleased  to  bless  to  you,  yet  in 
eternity  we  shall  meet;  and  my  prayer  is  that 
this  sketch  may  prove  a  blessing,  and  not  a 
curse  ;  for  if  you  do  not  get  to  heaven,  your 
damnation  will  be  more  intolerable  for  all  the 
invitations  you  have  had.  0  may  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  accompany  this,  and  save  the  poor 
drunkard  from  that  vortex  of  misery  to  which 
he  is  fast  tending  ! 

A  few  words  to  professors  of  religion  and  the 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  129 

temperate,  and  I  close.  Much  can  be  done  if 
such  will,  with  one  united  effort,  come  up  to  the 
help  of  the  Lord  against  this  worst  of  all  evils  in 
existence  ;  for  it  leads  to  every  vice  almost  that 
can  be  named.  You  may  inquire.  What  can  I  do 
that  I  have  not  done  ?  I  ansv/er  by  saying,  Set 
your  mind  on  some  person,  and  labor  for  the  sal- 
vation of  that  soul  as  you  would  for  gold  and  sil- 
ver, or  honor  and  applause,  and  there  will  be  but 
little  doubt  that  you  will  accomplish  your  end,  and 
save  a  soul  from  death.  Pray  to  God  to  awaken 
and  convince  the  poor  drunkard ;  and  God  will 
do  it  if  you  pray  in  faith,  and  do  not  doubt. 
God  will  answer  your  prayer.  Do  not  get  dis- 
couraged, but  be  resolved  that  by  love  and  good- 
will to  the  poor  deluded  creature  you  will  vs'-in 
him  over ;  and  though  you  have  tried  hundreds 
of  times,  be  resolved  that  you  will  follow  him 
to  the  very  gates  of  death  and  hell,  and  hedge 
up  his  way  from  ruin  if  you  can.  "  Be  dili- 
gent in  business,"  says  an  apostle ;  and  this  ought 
to  be  every  good  man's  business,  to  save  poor 
souls  from  the  damnation  of  hell,  and  a  hell  of 
misery  here ;  for  the  poor  drunkai-d  has  a  hell 
to  go  to  hell  in. 

But  again  :  you  may  encourage  the  cause  of 
temperance  by  buying  of  those  that  do  not  sell 
liquor.     Our  servants  and  our  children  are  in 
9 


130  REHIAUKABLE    EXAMPLES 

danger  of  being  corrupted  by  sending  them  to 
sucli  places ;  and  can  you,  reader,  feel  justified 
in  buying  of  a  man  that  is  selling  poison  to  your 
friends  ?  Look  at  the  misery  they  have  brought 
on  your  own  relations  or  neighbors !  0  look  to 
it,  and  may  God  help  you  to  look  aright,  is  the 
prayer  of  one  that  has  felt  the  evils  of  intem- 
perance, and  been  saved  from  the  very  jaws  of 
death  !  0  consider  the  subject  well !  It  is  a 
very  serious  one,  and  eternity  is  just  at  hand. 
You  are,  with  me,  near,  very  near.  One  or  two 
days,  weeks,  months,  or  years  will  bring  us  to 
our  account.  The  eye  of  God,  as  a  flame  of  fire, 
sees  and  surveys  all  our  actions.  A  little  sin,  as 
it  looks  to  us,  like  the  worm  unseen  by  Jonah, 
that  destroyed  his  gourd,  will,  if  not  repented 
of  and  forsaken,  shut  us  out  of  heaven.  0  that 
God  would  bless  this  sketch,  although  it  is  fee- 
ble, to  the  awakening  up  of  the  attention  of  both 
believers  and  unbelievers  to  stop  the  progress 
of  the  worst  of  evils  in  existence  ! 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  131 


-  G ;  OR,  A  STRIKING  INSTANCE  OF 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  DIVINE  GRACE. 


Though  the  grand  evidence  of  those  truths  upon 
which  our  hopes  are  built  arises  from  the  author- 
ity of  God  declaring  them  in  the  Scriptures,  and 
revealing  them  by  his  Spirit  to  the  awakened 
heart,  (for,  till  the  heart  is  awakened,  it  is  incapa- 
ble of  receiving  this  evidence,)  yet  some  of  these 
truths  are  so  mysterious  and  repugnant  to  the 
judgment  of  depraved  nature,  that  through  the 
remaining  influence  of  unbelief  and  vain  reason- 
ing, the  temptations  of  Satan,  and  the  subtile 
arguments  with  which  they  are  attacked  by  some 
men  reputed  wise,  the  minds  even  of  behevers 
are  sometimes  capable  of  being  shaken.  It  is 
not,  then,  at  all  wonderful  that  persons  who  are 
already  in  love  with  the  world,  and  desirous  of 
indulging  with  greater  liberty  in  its  delusive 
gratifications,  should  be  ready  to  receive  prin- 
ciples which  promise  temporary  relief  from  the 
remorse  of  conscience  and  the  restraints  of  reli- 


132  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

gious  obligation.  But  there  is,  perhaps,  no  bet- 
ter corroborating  evidence  of  the  truths  of  the 
gospel,  than  the  testimony  of  such  persons,  who, 
through  the  mercy  and  goodness  of  a  gracious 
Creator,  are,  on  a  death-bed,  brought  to  see 
that  they  have  been  trampling  upon  the  convic- 
tions of  his  grace,  and,  by  the  deceitful  workings 
of  the  grand  enemy  of  man's  happiness,  have 
been  induced  to  believe  a  lie.  At  this  aw^ful 
period,  the  soul  being  furnished  with  a  view  of 
the  transcendent  value  of  an  interest  in  Christ 
over  everything  else,  and  enabled,  through  the 
renewed  visitation  of  his  love,  to  experience  that 
sorrow  which  "  worketh  repentance  not  to  be 
repented  of,"  succeeded  by  an  evidence  that  it  is 
now  received  into  his  faA'or,  it  is,  at  such  a  sea- 
son as  this,  qualified  to  give  unquestionable 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  those  doctrines  most 
surely  believed.  An  instance  of  this  nature 
will  be  found  in  the  following  account : — • 

H G ,  of  Philadelphia,  was  a  young 

woman  of  extraordinary  natural  endowments 
and  sweetness  of  disposition.  Her  benevolence 
w^as  in  proportion  to  her  power  of  doing  good ; 
and  cheerfulness  of  mind,  and  easy  affability, 
rendered  her  an  object  of  esteem  and  affection 
to  most  who  knew  her. 

Happy  would  it  have  been  for  her,  if  in  child- 


OF    xMOKAL    RECOVERY.  133 

hood  tliese  gifts  had  been  properly  cultivated 
and  directed:  happy,  had  they  been  subjected 
to  the  government  of  that  divine  principle  of 
light  and  truth  in  the  secret  of  the  heart,  which 
is  freely  given  to  every  one  to  profit  withal,  and 
is  the  *'  crown  of  glory  and  diadem  of  beauty  !" 
But  her  aspiring  mind  could  not  stoop  to  the 
simplicity  of  the  truth.  "  She  stumbled  at  the 
Cross,  and  at  that  wisdom  which  is  foolishness 
with  men;"  and  "the  still,  small  voice"  of  the 
"Teacher  sent  from  God"  was  rarely  listened 
to,  and  less  frequently  obeyed. 

She  chose  for  her  companions  the  gay  and 
the  volatile ;  the  books  of  her  choice  were  nov- 
els, plays,  romances,  and  Paine's  Age  of  Rea- 
son ;  but  the  Sacred  Volume  was  seldom  opened, 
save  to  cavil  at  some  parts  of  its  inspired  con- 
tents. Thus  did  her  reading  embrace  the  doc- 
trines of  infidelity  in  all  its  delusive  forms,  and 
her  conduct  was  without  hypocrisy,  consonant 
Avith  her  faitli.  She  attended  no  place  of  divine 
worship,  but  spent  naany  of  her  precious  hours 
at  the  theater  and  other  similar  places.  Re- 
ligious characters  were  sedulously  avoided,  and 
their  friendly  admonitions  disregarded. 

Some  years  were  thus  unconcernedly  spent, 
when  it  pleased  her  Creator  to  blast  her  pros- 
pects and  her  health  by  consumption.     Long 


134  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

did  she  linger,  yet  long  were  her  old  companions 
and  books  the  exclusive  objects  of  her  attention. 
Her  situation  excited  the  sympathy  of  some 
who  were  not  ignorant  of  the  deplorable  state 
of  her  poor  soul ;  but  these  real  friends  could 
find  no  access  to  her.  The  writer  of  this,  how- 
ever, unburdened  his  mind  to  her  in  a  letter, 
which,  he  has  cause  to  believe,  she  condescended 
to  read ;  and  one  evening,  a  few  weeks  previous 
to  her  decease,  called  at  the  house  in  hopes  of 
being  invited  into  her  chamber,  but  was  disap- 
pointed. He  inquired  of  her  mother  what  was 
the  state  of  the  daughter's  mind,  now  in  the 
prospect  of  hastening  dissolution  ?  Her  answer 
was  :  "  She  is  quite  resigned  and  willing  to  die, 
and  says  she  don't  know  that  she  ever  did  any 
harm."  The  friend  replied,  that  if  she  rested 
her  hopes  of  happiness  on  such  innocence  as  this 
she  would  be  miserably  disappointed ;  and  that 
unless  she  felt  an  interest  in  Christ  Jesus,  the 
propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  her 
misery  was  inevitable ;  that  he  alone  was  the 
mediator  between  God  and  man,  and  that  he 
doubted  not,  when  she  had  a  proper  sight  of 
herself,  she  would  abhor  that  righteousness  in 
which  she  now  trusted,  and  in  the  bitterness  of 
repentance  would  cry  out  in  language  like  this : 
**  Lord,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner !" 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERr.  135 

The  secret  operations  of  the  unspeakable 
GRACE  of  the  Redeemer,  notwithstanding, 
brought  about  a  new  state  of  things  in  her  soul ; 
she  became  seriously  concerned  to  know  her  true 
situation ;  requested  one  who  sat  by  her  to  bring 
the  BIBLE,  and  read  to  her ;  talked  of  the  awful- 
ness  of  death  and  eternity  ;  asked  some  questions 
concerning  the  Saviour,  the  object  of  his  mission, 
birth,  sufferings,  death,  resurrection,  &c.,  and 
grew  pensive  and  sorrowful.  Divine  light  shone, 
at  seasons,  on  passages  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
which  now  became  her  only  book.  She  sent  for 
a  female  friend,  to  whom  she  expressed  her  un- 
worthiness  to  claim  the  merits  of  Jesus,  and 
said,  "  Dost  thou  think  that  such  a  one  as  I  may 
hope  ?"  Her  answer  tended  to  encourage  her  to 
hope,  provided  she  trusted  in  the  righteousness 
of  Ohrist  alone  ;  and  after  a  solemn  pause,  the 
friend  knelt  in  supplication  by  her  bedside,  and 
was  thus  the  instrument  of  much  consolation  to 
her. 

She  now  with  her  whole  heart  sought  Him 
whom  she  had  "  rejected ;"  she  "  mourned  be- 
cause of  Him  whom  she  had  pierced,"  and  he 
mercifully  manifested  himself  to  her  longing, 
almost  desponding  soul ;  and  therein  shed  abroad 
his  light  and  love,  whereby  she  was  enabled  to 
testify  of  his  goodness,  *'  who  willeth   not  the 


136  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

death  of  a  sinner,  but  rather  that  he  turn  from 
his  wickedness  and  Hve  !" 

A  few  days  previous  to  her  dissolution  she 
sent  for  the  writer  of  this  memoir,  who  gladly 
obeyed  the  summons,  and,  for  the  first  time, 
entered  her  chamber,  where  he  found  her  sup- 
ported in  bed  by  her  father,  and  surrounded  by 
her   weeping   relatives.      On   seeing    him,    she 

said,  "  Dear ,  how  I  did  want  to  see  thee ! 

I  know  thou  wast  always  my  friend."  He  re- 
plied that  he  had  felt  much  interested  for  her, 
and  was  glad  of  the  present  interview.  "  O !" 
said  she,  "I  have  been  eager  after  knowledge, 
but  have  neglected  the  onli/  true  Jcnoivledr/e." 
"  Yes,"  answered  he,  "  thou  hast  neglected  the 
only  mean  of  obtaining  substantial  knowledge, 
namely,  Christ  Jesus,  who  is  the  ivay,  the 
truth,  and  the  life,  and  who  came  to  seek  and  to 
save,  not  the  righteous,  but  sinners.''  "Ah!" 
replied  she,  "I  have  been  a  sinner,  a  great  sin- 
ner ;  how  have  I  misspent  my  precious  time ; 
hoAv  have  I  wasted  my  talents,  which  should 
have  been  improved  to  the  glory  of  God ;  and 
can  it  be  that  he  forgives  such  a  sinner  as  I  ?" 
On  her  friend  repeating  the  declaration,  "  Thy 
sins  and  thine  iniquities  will  I  remember  no 
more,"  and  observing  that  his  promises  are  yea 
and  amen,  she  exclaimed,  with  all  the  fervor  of 


OF  MORAL  RECOVERY.  ISY 

which  her  sinking  frame  was  capable,  *'  He  is 
not  a  man  that  he  should  he,  or  the  son  of  man 
that  he  should  repent ;  is  he,  dear  father  ?" 
turning  her  face  toward  her  weeping  parent, 
while  love  beamed  from  her  languid  eyes. 
"What  a  dear  Saviour!  Is  he  not,  dear 
friends  ?" 

There  was  a  sweet  serenity  which  made  her 
emaciated  countenance  appear  lovely,  and  her 
endearing  expressions  to  all  around  her  evidenced 
the  change  within.  A  solemn  stillness  followed, 
when  the  writer  was  bowed  in  vocal  supplica- 
tion and  thanksgiving  in  her  behalf.  She  shoitly 
after  bade  him  a  last  farewell,  in  the  mutual  ex- 
pression of  a  hope  to  meet  again  where  the  tempt- 
er cannot  enter  ;  where  sorrow  and  sighing  shall 
cease,  and  we  shall  no  more  say,  "  I  am  sick." 

A  very  intimate  female  friend  of  hers,  in 
whose  arms  she  expired,  has  favored  the  writer 
with  the  following  interesting  particulars  : — 

The  great  change  that  was  now  evident  was 
truly  wonderful,  and  it  might  be  said  as  of  old, 
"  Stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  God ;"  for 
not  much  of  human  agency  appeared  to  have 
been  the  cause  of  such  extinction  of  self-right- 
eousness, such  unbounded  love,  such  humble 
hope  and  confident  faith  in  a  dear  Redeemer. 
Such  a  tender  concern  had  she  for  her  brother 


138  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

and  sisters,  that  she  repeated  her  dying  injunc- 
tions in  the  following  manner  :  "  My  dear  sister 

E ,  attend  to  my  dying  words ;  perhaps  I 

never  shall  speak  to  thee  again.  Be  kind  and 
obedient  to  thy  dear  father  and  mother;  do 
not,  I  charge  thee,  neglect  going  to  meeting. 
0  that  I  had  not  neglected  it  so  much  !  Do  n't 
do  as  I  have  done,  my  dear  sister ;  put  off  gay 
clothes,  and  dress  plain.  What  are  the  gayeties 
of  a  fleeting  world,  a  dying  hour  can  best  show. 
Do  all  thou  Jcnowest  to  be  right ;  we  oftener  err 
from  neglecting  what  we  know  than  not  knowing. 
Do  not  forget  what  I  have  said  to  thee  at  this 
awful  moment ;  let  it  have  weight  when  I  am 
gone." 

She  was  now  much  exhausted  ;  her  cough  was 
almost  incessant ;  yet,  in  the  most  severe  suffer- 
ing, she  said, 

"  Jesus  can  make  a  dying  bed 
Feel  soft  as  downy  pillows  are." 

Then  putting  her  arm,  as  well  as  her  weakness 
w^ould  permit,  i*ound  her  friend's  neck,  she  said, 
''  Do  not,  my  dear  friend,  weep  for  me :  I  am 
going  to  my  Father  and  thy  Father's  house. 
We  have  had  many  pleasant  hours  together  in 
this  world.  I  was  long  a  wanderer,  but  I  trust 
we  shall  meet  in  that  pleasant  land  of  rest,  to 
part  no  more."     She  then  asked  to  hear  the 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  139 

12  th  chapter  of  Luke  read,  many  passages  of 
which  afforded  her  subject  for  rejoicing,  even  in 
the  extremity  of  pain  ;  especially  that  one  which 
begins,  "  Behold  the  lilies  how  they  grow,"  &c. 
She  said,  *'  How  consoling!  how  soothing  !  how 
have  I  lived  so  blind  to  the  beauties,  the  excel- 
lences of  this  Messed  bookT'  laying  her  hand  on 
it  as  she  spoke. 

After  an  interval  of  most  distressing  convul- 
sive coughing,  in  which  she  appeared  departing, 
she  revived,  and  desired  to  see  her  brother,  to 
whom  she  thus  addressed  herself: — "My  deg^r 
brother,  I  wish  once  more  to  speak  to  thee  before 
I  die.  Wilt  thou  remember  all  I  have  said  to 
thee  when  I  am  laid  in  the  grave  ?  Thy  time,  I 
know,  is  much  occupied  ;  but  thou  canst  go  to 
meeting  on  First-day  afternoons.  Use  the  plain 
language,  and  do  not  folloAV  the  evil  course  of 
those  who  live  only  for  tliis  world.  Obey  thy 
dear  parents  in  all  they  desire  of  thee;  they 
never  will  ask  thee  to  do  anything  but  what  is 
for  thy  advantage.  Be  a  kind  brother  to  thy 
sisters  :  0  !  always  live  in  unity  with  them,  and, 
my  dear  hrother,  never  for c/ct  that  thou  must  one 
day  die;  prepare  for  it  in  season:  do  not  let  thy 
last  hour  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night.  I  have 
had  a  sore  trial,  but  my  hope  is  in  Him  in  whom 
is  no  change.     Dear  brother,  do  not  put  it  off  as 


140  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

I  have  done ;  let  me  be  a  warning  to  thee  to 
begin  early  to  seek  the  true  Friend  of  sinners, 
the   sure    help    in   time   of  need.     Dear,    dear 

G- ,  remember  what  I  say,  when  this  hour 

shall  be  passed.  I  have  loved  you  all  dearly ;  but 
O  how  manifold  is  my  love  increased  for  you 
now !  how  much  better  I  love  all  my  kind  friends 
and  the  whole  world  than  when  in  health.  The 
hour  of  death  is  an  honest  hour''  She  was 
again  much  exhausted ;  but  her  least  sister 
coming  into  the  room,  she  desired  to  have  her 
brought  near  her,  and  clasping  her  arras  around 
her,  thanked  her  for  giving  up  so  much  of  her 
time  to  her  during  her  illness,  and  said,  "  I  know 
the  Lord  will  bless  thee  for  it ;  thou  art  an  inno- 
cent good  girl  now  ;  0  mayest  thou  always  re- 
main so  !  Dear  L ,  farewell,  farewell !  Re- 
member thy  sister." 

She  then  desired  to  hear  the  5th  chapter  of 
Matthew,  and  the  words,  *'  Blessed  are  the  mer- 
ciful, for  they  shall  obtain  mercy,"  were  a  balm 
to  her  mind.  She  said,  "  I  have  obtained 
mercy ;  I  cannot  deceive  mj^self  now.  Al- 
though I  went  from  my  blessed  Saviour,  his 
mercy  never  left  me."  Many  other  parts  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  had  her  attention,  even  in  the 
severest  pain  ;  for  although  her  body  was  wasted 
to    the  extreme,  yet   did   her   mind    retain   its 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  141 

strength  and  clearness,  and  even  increased  in 
vigor  as  it  approached  the  moment  of  final 
freedom. 

She  spoke  much  at  intervals  of  comparative 
ease  ;  thanked  her  friends  for  all  their  kind  at- 
tention to  her ;  and  one  remarking  that  it  was 
an  advantage  to  be  with  her,  she  said,  "How 
thankful  I  am  that  I  can  be  of  use  to  any  one  ; 
it  makes  dying  more  easy  to  think  I  am  per- 
mitted to  do  a  Uttle  good,  and  very  Httle  it  is. 
Have  I  not  come  in  at  the  eleventh  hour,  and 
can  I  presume  to  take  the  wages  of  the  whole 
day  ?  But  the  blessed  Lord  of  the  harvest  did 
freely  give  it  to  as  great  an  idler  as  I.  0 
how  wonderful  are  the  mercies  of  the  blessed, 
lowly  Lamb  of  life !  All  unworthy  as  I  am,  I 
yet  will  trust  my  all  with  him." 

Her  pain  now  appeared  very  grievous,  and 
her  departure  at  hand.  What  she  suffered,  she 
said,  was  beyond  expression,  but  she  would  en- 
deavor to  be  patient.  A  friend  said  she  thought 
she  could  not  suffer  much  more.  "  O  !"  said 
she,  "  that  is  pleasant  tidings  ;  but  I  will  try  to 
bear  all ;  the  Lord  of  life  bore  with  me  long, 
very  long."     She  often  said, 

"  I  '11  praise  my  Maker  while  I  '\e  breath. 
Ami  when  my  voice  is  lost  in  death 

Praise  shall  employ  ray  nobler  powers,"  &c. 


142  REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

She  asked  her  mother  if  she  thought  she  had 
anything  more  to  do.  "  Tell  me  now,'^  said  she, 
"■  my  strength  will  soon  be  quite  gone."  The 
friend  in  whose  arms  she  had,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  her  serious  illness,  expressed  a  wish  to 
die,  she  now  desired  to  support  her.  "I  will 
soon  cease,"  said  she,  "  to  trouble  my  dear 
friends,  and  this  is  the  greatest  favor  and  the 
last  I  shall  ask  of  thee."  It  was  now  about 
seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  her  friend  sat 
behind  her,  not  thinking  her  change  quite  so 
near.  She  still  continued  in  that  sweet  confiding 
spirit;  still,  amid  her  severe  agonies,  expressed 
that  fullness  of  love  which  had  been  so  great  the 
last  few  days ;  and  her  friend  observed  her  lips 
move,  and  could  hear,  at  intervals,  words,  as  if 
in  earnest  prayer.  She  motioned  to  be  raised 
up,  which  was  done,  and  she  faintly  whispered, 

"  Farewell,  dear  M ,  again  farewell.     I  shall 

soon  be  at  rest  in  Jesus."  Her  weeping  friends 
now  thought  her  gone ;  but  she  that  held  her, 
subduing  her  own  emotion  as  much  as  possible, 
motioned  them  to  be  silent.  Again  the  dear 
saint  revived,  and  her  mother  thought  perhaps 
she  had  but  swooned,  and  brought  her  some 
water.  She  said,  "  No,  dear  mother,  no  more 
drink  in  this  world ;"  but  wetting  her  lips  with 
her  own  hands,  to  the  surprise  of  her  relatives 


OF    irORAL   RECOVERY.  143 

and  friends,  repeated  softly  the  following  prayer, 
as  nearly  as  could  be  recollected : — 

"  Come,  blessed  Jesus,  0  come,  and  receive  a 
poor  penitent  wanderer  home !  Blessed  Jesus  ! 
thou  bleeding,  dying  Lamb,  0  come  ! — come 
with  thy  banner  of  salvation,  and  receive  my 
departing  soul !  0  receive  it  to  thy  holy  habi- 
tation, where  it  shall  find  peace  and  rest !  And 
0,  thou  God  of  love,  pardon  all  my  transgres- 
sions against  thee,  and  remember  my  sins  no 
more  !  Be  with  me  in  this  my  hour  of  sore  trial ; 
shoi'ten  my  sufferings,  Heavenly  Father,  if  it  be 
thy  blessed  will.  Yet  I  will  try  to  be  patient 
until  my  appointed  time.  Come,  support  me 
with  thine  outstretched  arm  of  love,  and  enable 
me  to  say,  Not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done.  Of 
thy  manifold  mercies  forgive  all  my  shortcomings, 
blot  out  my  many  sins,  and  let  my  name  be 
found  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life. 
Come,  blessed  Jesus,  give  me  the  white  robe ; 
0  give  me  the  white  robe,  and  be  with  me 
through  the  deep  waters  !  O  -make  them  shal- 
low until  I  have  clean  passed  over !  Dear  Jesus, 
forget  me  not,  nor  leave  me  while  in  the  dark 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  Let  the  light 
of  thy  countenance  shine  upon  me  now  and  for- 
ever. 0  come,  dear  Jesus,  come  !  Take  my  de- 
parting spirit  to  thy  holy  habitation,  those  man- 


144  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

sions,  many  mansions,  in  my  Father's  house. 
Come,  dear  Jesus,  come — receive  my — depart- 
ing spirit — receive — ray — receive — my — my — 
soul." 

After  this  exertion  she  sunk  on  the  bosom 
that  supported  her  dying  frame.  It  was  now 
ten  o'clock,  and,  to  the  view  of  those  present, 
she  seemed  to  expire  without  a  sigh ;  but,  as  if 
she  had  just  beheld  the  glorious  haven  of  rest, 
and  still  in  the  spirit  of  pure  love  for  her  friends, 
wished  to  comfort  those  Avho  wept  the  privation 
of  her  society,  (for  she  was  in  her  life  very 
pleasant  to  many,)  she  once  more  opened  her 
eyes,  and  with  a  smile  of  celestial  radiance  pass- 
ing  over  her  fixed  features,  said,  very  faintly, 
"  Happy,  happy,  O  how  happy  !"  and  when  she 
perceived  she  was  understood,  breathed  no  more. 
It  is  not  in  words  to  express  the  solemnity  of 
such  a  scene.  It  was  as  if  the  portals  of  heaven 
had  opened  to  our  view,  and  we  had  seen  our 
loved  friend  enter  the  abode  of  happiness  and 
peace.  Long,  long  may  the  impression  abide 
with  all  who  were  present,  and  be  remembered 
as  a  monument  of  the  unbounded  love  of  Him 
who  is  the  salvation  of  the  world.  Her  decease 
occurred  the  13th  day  of  the  12th  mo.,  1816. 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  146 

PERFECT  PEACE  EXEMPLIFIED 

In  If)*  2tl£lijg[fous  ^x^nitntt  of 
MR.  JOHN   WARREN  HOWELL. 


The  folloTN^ng  case,  taken  from  a  work  recently 
published,  entitled  •'•'  Perfect  Peace,"  &c.,  by  the 
Rev.  Da%-id  Pitcairn,  is  an  instance  of  conversion 
where  character  had  been  fully  developed,  at  a 
comparatively  advanced  stage  of  Hfe.  It  is  that 
of  Mr.  Howell,  who  was  bom  at  Bath,  in  the 
year  1810.  Possessed  of  uncommon  vigor  of 
intellect,  and  an  insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge, 
he  made  remarkable  progress  as  a  medical 
student.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  studies  he 
commenced  practice  in  his  native  town,  and  soon 
attracted  the  notice  of  many  eminent  men  by 
his  public  lectures  and  contributions  to  various 
scientific  journals.  His  mind  had  been  cast  in  a 
noble  mold.  He  was  richly  endowed  with  those 
high  mental  qualifications  which  constitute  the 
true  philosopher.  There  was  not  only  much  that 
was  purely  intellectual,  there  was  also  about 
him  a  moral  loveliness  that  gTeatly  elevated  his 
10 


146  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

general  character.  His  conduct  was  blameless 
in  the  sight  of  men.  The  refinement  of  his 
mind,  and  his  extreme  delicacy  of  feeling,  made 
vice  odious  to  him.  He  had  at  heart  an  abiding 
theoretic  reverence  for  the  Divme  Being,  and  he 
conscientiously  professed  belief  in  a  revelation. 
Some  might  have  been  prepared  to  pronounce 
him  to  be  all  that  was  needful  to  render  him  an 
object  of  God's  complacency.  The  case  is, 
therefore,  a  most  valuable  one,  as  it  shows  us 
how  much  had  yet  to  be  done,  and  how  different 
mere  respect  for  religion  is  from  an  experience 
of  it.  Mr.  Howell  practically  forgot  God ;  the 
fear  of  God  was  not  before  his  eyes  ;  the  love 
of  God  was  not  in  his  heart ;  the  glory  of  God 
v/as  not  the  object  he  had  in  view,  nor  the  end 
at  which  he  aimed ;  the  day  of  holy  rest,  which 
God  had  set  apart  for  his  own  special  service, 
was  desecrated  by  secular  occupations  ;  the  pub- 
lic worship  of  God  was  seldom  attended,  and 
family  worship  was  not  thought  of ;  the  welfare 
of  his  immortal  soul  was  overlooked  ;  the  great 
concerns  of  the  eternal  world  were  neglected. 
This  is  no  exaggeration.  It  is  the  substance  of 
his  own  tearful  confession  on  a  dying-bed.  He 
made  no  profession  of  religion :  he  was  too 
honest  to  profess  what  he  did  not  feel.  God, 
however,  had  his  eye  on  him.     Symptoms  of 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY,  141 

consumption  began  to  manifest  themselves,  and 
he  was  induced  to  visit  Torquay  in  the  hope  of 
recovery.  Here  he  was  introduced  to  a  circle  of 
pious  friends,  and  thus  the  subject  of  religion 
was  brought  prominently  under  his  notice.  His 
health  improved,  and  he  once  more  resumed  his 
professional  duties.  In  a  few  weeks,  however, 
he  again  became  worse,  and  was  obliged  to  re- 
turn to  the  place  where  he  had  formerly  been 
benefited.  Business  detained  Mrs.  Howell  some 
days  behind  him  ;  and,  when  she  did  arrive,  she 
found  him  in  a  state  of  great  uneasiness,  from 
the  apprehension  that  his  death  was  drawing 
nigh.  That  evening,  after  his  wife  had  read  a 
portion  of  Scripture  to  soothe  and  comfort  him, 
he  asked  her  to  pray  v/ith  him.  This  request 
took  her  by  surprise.  She  was  unaccustomed 
to  pray  aloud,  and  felt  obliged  to  decline. 
"  Then  I  must  do  it  myself,"  said  he ;  and  he 
did  pray  with  her,  which  he  had  never  done  be- 
fore. He  was  in  distress,  and  felt  that  God  was 
his  only  refuge ;  he  felt  that  prayer  was  more 
than  a  duty — it  was  a  privilege.  On  Sabbatli 
morning  Mrs.  Howell  went  to  church,  and  it 
startled  her  to  hear  the  name  of  her  husband 
read  out  as  a  sick  person  desiring  the  prayers  of 
the  congregation.  He  had  written  a  note  to  the 
minister  to  that  etfect.     Evorvthino-  nosv  indicated 


148  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

that  Mr.  Howell  was  in   earnest.     He  read  his 
Bible  with  a  wish  to  understand  it ;  while  his 
correspondence   and    conversation  with   friends 
partook  much  of  a  religious  character.     Partial 
recovery,  followed   by  relapse,  filled  him  with 
great  distress ;  and  he  could  now  only  look  tG 
God  and  cry  for  mercy.     The  Rev.  Mr.  Pitcairr 
paid  him  frequent  visits.     He  found  him  alive  tc 
the    importance  of  salvation;    but  he  did  not 
seem  to  have  an  experimental  knowledge  of  that 
one  way  of  a  sinner's  acceptance  with  God,  which 
the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ   reveals. 
He  was  urged  to  rest  his  hopes  on  Christ  alone. 
This  he  complained  he  could  not  do.     He  con- 
fessed it  was  what  was  right,  and  what  he  indeed 
desired — but  he  could  not  believe ;  and  he  felt 
himself  without  comfort,  because  he  was  with- 
out hope.     It  was  manifest,  however,  that  he 
was  an  earnest  and  anxious  inquirer  after  gospel 
truth.      He  spoke  with  great  kindness  of  the 
Christian  friends  who  had  visited  and  instructed 
him.     He  confessed  that  his  understanding  went 
along  with  their  statements,  but  that  his  heart 
remained  untouched.     Was  there  not  need  for 
the  Holy  Spirit's  work  here  ?     His  teachable- 
ness was  very  striking.     There  was  no  disposi- 
tion to  start  objections,  nor  any  of  that  captious- 
ness  which   one  has  so  often  to  encounter  in 


OF   MORAL    RECOVERY.  149 

dealing  with  men  of  talent.  Another  day,  on 
enterinor  his  bed-chamber,  Howell  fluno:  out  his 
arm  and  grasped  the  hand  of  his  faithful  spirit- 
ual instructor  with  a  cordiality  that  intimated 
how  thankful  he  was  for  the  visit.  But  he 
could  not  speak,  and  his  fine  countenance  was 
expressive  of  inward  agony.  It  was  quite  an 
appalling  spectacle.  "  I  silently  gazed  upon  him 
for  a  minute  or  two,"  says  Mr.  Pitcairn,  "and 
then  said  :  '  God  is  our  refuge  in  every  time  of 
distress  and  trouble.  Before  we  attempt  to  con- 
verse we  had  best  cast  ourselves  on  God.' 
During  the  prayer  it  was  very  affecting  to  be 
continually  interrupted  with  his  whispered  '  Yes, 
yes ;  Amen,  Amen.'  We  were  very  earnest  in 
our  supplications  ;  and,  while  we  were  yet  speak- 
ing, it  happened  to  us,  as  to  Daniel  of  old,  that 
God  heard  and  answered.  Indeed,  I  never  was 
so  sensible  of  an  immediate  answer  to  prayer." 
When  prayer  was  over,  the  dying  man  was 
able  to  speak.  He  acknowledged,  that  after  the 
former  visit  of  Mr.  Pitcairn  he  had  experienced 
the  purest  happiness.  The  excitement,  however, 
had  debilitated  Jiis  frame ;  and  amid  this  weak- 
ness of  body,  "  a  cloud  of  horrible  darkness," 
as  he  described  it,  had  enveloped  his  mind.  He 
could  not  believe  anything.  The  truths  which 
had  been  the  joy  and  rejoicing  of  his  heart  van- 


150  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

ished  from  his  hold  like  unsubstantial  shadows. 
This  had  been  connected  with  deep  convictions 
of  sin.  As  his  wife  sat  by  him,  endeavoring  to 
administer  comfort,  he  had  exclaimed  :  "0,  I 
have  been  a  great  sinner !"  and  the  tears  rolled 
dovrn  his  cheeks.  This  was,  no  doubt,  a  prepa- 
ratory process,  in  order  to  show  him  his  own 
sinfulness  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  to  give  him 
a  more  thorough  appreciation  of  the  "great  sal- 
vation." Conversation  upon  the  leading  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel  was  the  means  of  restoring 
his  mind  to  its  former  calmness.  On  another 
occasion  the  subject  of  conversion  was  discussed  ; 
when  he  said,  in  reference  to  himself,  "I  do  feel 
that  a  great  change  has  taken  place."  From 
this  acknowledgment  his  progress  in  the  divine 
life  was  most  marked.  By  day  his  time  was 
spent  in  religious  conversation,  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  other  religious  exercises  ;  and  by  night 
his  waking  moments  were  spent  in  sweet  medi- 
tation. One  day  Mr.  Pitcairn  compared  the 
blessed  alteration  in  his  religious  state  to  that 
of  the  groveling  grub  which  has  become  a 
winged  insect.  He  had  burst  the  shell  and 
escaped  from  a  chrysalis  condition ;  his  soul, 
now  emancipated  from  the  dark  prison-house  of 
ignorance  and  unbelief,  was  soaring  above  sub- 
lunary things,  on  the  newly-expanded  wings  of 


or    MORAL    RKCOVERY.  151 

faith  and  hope.  This  idea  charmed  him  ex- 
ceedingly, from  his  pecuhar  fondness  for  natural 
science.  He  said  it  was  a  beautiful  idea,  and  he 
rocked  his  head  on  the  pillow,  and  almost  wept 
with  delight.  About  three  weeks  before  his 
death  he  again  relapsed  into  a  state  of  deep 
spiritual  apprehension.  Upon  Mr.  Pitcairn  call- 
ing, he  said :  "  I  know  that  doubts  will  spring- 
up  unbidden,  even  when  I  am  endeavoring  to 
repress  them."  In  allusion  to  a  tract  that  had 
been  left  him,  entitled  "The  Bliss  of  Heaven," 
he  said  :  "  I  see  that  to  be  with  Christ,  or  to 
have  Christ .  with  us,  is  heaven.  The  place 
where  is  of  inferior  moment.  But  I  cannot  sub- 
due a  continually  rising  idea  that  it  is  prema- 
ture in  a  person  like  me  to  entertain  the  hope 
of  this  bliss.  All  nriy  former  pursuits  have  been 
so  exclusively  of  a  worldly  chai-acter,  and  my 
whole  life  has  been  marked  by  such  forgetful - 
iiess  of  God,  and  indifference  to  the  salvation 
which  is  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  I  wish 
for  your  opinion  whether  I  am  not  deceiving 
myself  in  this  matter."  Mr.  Pitcairn  looked  at 
him  with  earnestness,  and  said  :  "  Do  you,  as  a 
poor  perishing  sinner,  really  believe  from  the 
heart  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?"  "  0  yes,"  he 
replied,  and  appeared  somewhat  surprised  at 
the  question   being  put.     •'  Are  you  sure  you 


152  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

are  not  deceiving  yourself  in  this  ?  Have  you 
the  consciousness  of  believing  in  him  and  trusting 
in  him,  as  the  Son  of  God  and  Saviour  of  sin- 
ners ?"  "I  am  perfectly  conscious  of  doing  so. 
I  am  as  conscious  of  believing  in  Christ  as  I  am 
of  being  alive."  "  Well,  then,  my  dear  friend, 
it  is  your  faith  in  Christ,  whicb  the  grace  of  God 
enables  you  to  exercise,  that  gives  a  relish  for 
the  bliss  of  heaven.  Whenever  he  gives  us 
grace  to  believe,  it  cannot  be  premature  to  hope 
for  what  is  promised  and  provided.  And  there 
must  be  a  turning-point  in  the  history  of  every 
man  who  is  brought  out  of  the  darkness  of  his 
natural  condition  into  the  marvelous  light  of  the 
gospel.  I  beheve  you  have  passed  that  point." 
Here  lie  interrupted  his  kind  friend,  and  said 
with  eagerness:  "I  see  it!  I  see  it!  I  am 
sensible  that  the  whole  state  of  my  views  and 
feelings,  in  regard  to  religion,  has  undergone  a 
great  change ;  but  I  only  feared  that  I  might  be 
indulging  a  false  hope."  Then,  after  a  little,  in 
reply  to  his  friend  assuring  him  that  he  ought 
not  to  doubt  the  fact  of  "  the  good  work  "  hav- 
ing been  begun  in  him,  he  said :  "  No ;  I  ought 
not  to  doubt,  and  indeed  I  cannot  doubt  it. 
But  I  thought  that  your  theory  of  salvation  was 
too  simple ;  it  seems  too  easy  a  way  of  getting  to 
heaven''     Thus  they  got  upon  new  ground.    His 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  153 

friend  spoke  of  the  simplicity  that  distinguishes 
all  the  works  of  God,  as  contrasted  with  the 
complexity  of  human  contrivances  ;  and,  as  an 
eminent  naturalist,  he  caught  the  spirit  of  this 
remark,  and  felt  its  weight.  A  few  days  before 
his  death,  a  new  symptom  of  his  complaint  ap- 
pearing, he  said  to  his  wife :  '*  Ah !  my  love, 
there  are  so  many  steps  toward  the  last  bourn.'* 
To  which  she  replied :  "  You  do  not  fear  ?" 
*'  No,"  he  answered,  "  blessed  be  God,  all  dread 
is  taken  away.  I  rely  wholly  on  the  merits  of 
my  Saviour."  "Can  you  say,  3fi/  Saviour  f 
"  Yes,  My  Saviour^  His  path  was  now  that 
of  "  the  just,  shining  more  and  more  unto  the 
perfect  day."  His  conversations  evinced  the 
experience  of  the  humble  yet  rejoicing  believer. 
"Perfect  peace,  perfect  peace,"  was  his  dying 
testimony.  With  his  latest  breath  he  testified, 
in  the  most  solemn  and  emphatic  manner,  to  the 
wonderful  work  which  the  power  of  divine 
grace  had  wrought  upon  him.  Thus,  on  his 
death-bed,  did  John  Warren  Howell,  in  the  thir- 
ty-third year  of  his  age,  find  mercy  through  faith 
in  Christ. 


154  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 


THE   VESSEL    OF    GOLD; 

OR, 

SANCTIFIED  AFFLICTION. 


I  have  chosen  thee  in  the  furnace  of  affliction. 

Isa.  xlviii,  10. 

Holy  Scripture  abounds  with  striking  figures 
and  graceful  illustrations  of  its  sacred  truths. 
It  has  pleased  the  Lord,  by  the  use  of  sucli 
simiHtudes,  to  engrave  a  more  lively  and  lasting 
impression  upon  many  a  reader's  mind  of  tlic 
important  lessons  which  his  word  sets  forth. 
')^he  "vessel"  made  "unto  honor"  is  one  of 
these  graceful  figures.  The  most  precious  met- 
ajs  are  the  materials  he  employs  in  his  divine 
illustrations.  The  silver  and  the  gold,  taken 
from  the  caverns  of  the  earth,  are  represented 
as  undergoing,  beneath  his  sacred  hand,  the 
preparation  and  the  process  by  which  they  be- 
come vessels  of  honor,  glorious  and  beautiful  to 
behold,  meet  for  the  Master's  use.  The  precious 
ore  is  put  into  the  furnace  to  be  tried  by  its 
refining  fires,  that    the    dross  may   be   purged 


OF    MORAL    RECOVEKl'.  155 

away,  and  that  the  gold  may  be  purified  and 
refined,  even  as  the  fine  gold  of  the  sanctuary. 
We  are  plainly  told  that  the  Lord  himself  is 
occupied  in  this  mysterious  and  wondrous  work, 
intently  watching  over  the  refining  process,  taking 
care  that  not  one  coal  too  much  should  be  added 
to  the  furnace,  lest  the  fire  should  exceed  its 
necessary  heat — lest  it  should  burn  too  fiercely. 
His  eye  is  ever  on  the  molten  gold,  that  when 
every  bubble  shall  cease  to  rise,  and  every 
wrinkle  shall  subside,  and  when  his  own  image 
shall  be  clearly  and  faithfully  reflected  there,  as 
on  the  surface  of  a  polished  mirror,  he  may  pro- 
nounce the  process  ended,  and  the  work  accom- 
plished. "  He  shall  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier 
of  silver,"  says  the  prophet  Malachi,  speaking  of 
the  sanctified  suflferings  of  his  peculiar  people, 
"and  he  shall  purify  and  purge  them  as  gpld  ^^ 
and  silver."  And  one  of  the  most  illustrious' 
of  his  suflfering  and  patient  saints,  who  when  put 
into  the  furnace  was  subjected  to  its  most  fierce 
and  fier>^  trial,  exclaims,  "When  he  hath  tried 
me,  I  shall  come  forth  as  gold."  Job  xxiii,  10. 
Thus  also  the  Divine  Refiner  is  heard  to  speak 
bv  the  words  of  the  wise  man  :  "  Take  away  the 
dross  from  the  silver,  and  there  shall  come  forth 
a  vessel  for  the  finer."  Prov.  xxv,  4. 

But  the  Lord  has  not  only  his  furnace-tires 


156  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

here  below,  but,  according  to  the  quaint  but 
spiritual  language  of  Leighton,  he  has  his  jew- 
elry and  his  workshop ;  and  there  his  vessels 
and  jewels  of  gold  are  fashioned  and  gracefully- 
molded  ;  there  they  are  adorned  and  engraven  and 
polished ;  and  those  which  he  especially  esteems 
and  desires  to  make  most  resplendent,  he  has 
oftenest  his  tools  upon,  that  they  may  be  fitted 
for  his  palace-mansions  above,  even  as  the  ves- 
sels of  pure  gold  and  beaten  work  were  wrought 
by  the  skill  of  Bezaleel,  and  fitted  for  the  sanc- 
tuary of  the  Tabernacle  in  the  wilderness.  "  In 
a  great  house,"  says  the  apostle,  continuing  the 
same  fissure,  "  there  are  vessels  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver ;"  and  he  afterward  adds,  "  If  a  man  purge 
himself  from  these," — that  is,  from  the  evil 
things  of  which  he  had  been  speaking, — "he 
shall  be  a  vessel  unto  honor,  sanctified,  and 
meet  for  the  Master's  use."  2  Tim.  ii,  20,  21. 

About  four   years   ago,   I   became  first   ac- 
quainted with  Mary .     There  was  nothing 

remarkable  at  the  time  about  her  manner  or 
appearance,  except  that  she  was  pleasing  and 
amiable,  and,  though  extremely  neat  in  her  per- 
son and  dress,  evidently  more  anxious  about 
her  outward  adornment  than  about  the  inward 
graces  of  the  Spirit.  There  was  much  of  gentle 
courtesy  in  the  reception  she  gave  me,  as  the 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  157 

minister  of  the  place  ;  but  her  conversation  was 
common-place,  and  she  seemed  to  take  no  inter- 
est in  spiritual  things.  She  was  a  mere  woman 
of  the  world,  a  faithful  wife,  a  watchful,  tender 
mother ;  industrious,  thrifty,  careful,  and  "  troub- 
led about  many  things ;"  generous  and  open- 
hearted,  but  impatient  and  high-spirited,  and  at 
times  of  a  fiery  temper.  Though  no  longer  a 
young  woman,  her  large  dark  eyes,  delicate  and 
finely-formed  featui-es,  and  clear  complexion,  still 
bore  the  trace  of  much  personal  beauty  ;  and  her 
gay  attire  showed  that  vanity  had  not  lost  its  liold 
upon  her  mind.  She  was  in  the  world,  and  of 
the  world.  The  little  religion  that  she  had  was 
nominal  and  formal.  Her  temper  was  irritable, 
and  she  was  easily  provoked.  I  have  been  told 
by  those  who  knew  her  well,  that,  though  a  kind 
and  worthy  woman  in  the  main,  she  was  at  times 
extremely  impatient,  and  even  fi^ery  in  her  tem- 
per, and  that  it  was  almost  impossible  at  such 
times  to  please  her.  She  would  not  brook  con- 
trol or  interference ;  and  if  any  of  her  household 
opposed  her,  or  caused  her  any  annoyance,  she 
would  make  them  flee  before  her.  But  it  is  the 
lovely  effect  of  the  grace  of  God  to  transfonn 
the  nature  of  the  lion  into  that  of  the  lamb, 
and  such  a  transformation  was  exhibited  in  the 
present  instance. 


158  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

It  is  a  wonderful  work,  tliis  work  of  trans- 
forming grace ;  and  it  has  seldom  appeared  so 
wonderful  to  me  as  in  tlie  case  which  I  now 
bring  before  the  reader.  It  was  wholly  of  God 
— of  his  word  and  Spirit.  It  commenced  and  it 
went  on  secretly  and  quietly,  without  noise,  and 
"  without  observation,"  till  all  at  once  the  first 
sign  of  it  suddenly  appeared,  but  even  then  in 
so  slight  and  scarcely  perceptible  a  form,  that  it 
was  at  first  awhile  almost  unheeded.  I  heard 
that  she  was  ill  and  confined  to  her  house ;  and 
when  a  visit  was  paid  to  her,  I  found  that  a 
fatal  disease,  which  she  had  kept  secret  for 
many  years,  had  already  made  fearful  inroads 
upon  her  constitution,  and  that  her  long-con- 
tinued silence  and  concealment,  even  from  her 
medical  attendant,  owing  to  a  shrinking  feeling 
of  delicacy,  had  rendered  recovery,  humanly 
speaking,  hopeless  ;  and  her  death,  however  long 
her  sufferings  might  be  protracted,  appeared  to 
be  inevitable.  I  read  a  portion  of  Scripture 
and  prayed  with  her;  but,  though  she  seemed 
pleased  with  my  visit,  I  should  not  have  said — 
from  her  manner,  or  from  her  replies  to  the 
remarks  which  I  made — that  she  felt  any  real 
interest  in  the  word  of  life.  She  was  very  ill ; 
but  though  her  suflferings  were  intense,  even 
then  she  made  no  complaint.     Gradually  her 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  159 

heart  seemed  to  open  to  the  reception  of  the 
word  of  God ;  but  she  still  said  little,  and  her 
manner  was  not  that  of  one  Avho  felt  deeply. 

Many  months  had  passed  away,  when  one 
evening,  on  my  visiting  her,  she  spoke  with  more 
animation  than  usual,  and  told  me  that  she  had 
received  great  comfort  from  a  chapter  of  the 
New  Testament  which  had  been  read  to  her  by 
one  who  had  long  shared  in  these  visits.  It  was 
a  portion  of  Scripture  peculiarly  suited  to  her 
state,  and  was,  I  have  every  reason  to  believe, 
the  first  which  had  come  with  power  to  her 
heart.  I  turned  to  it,  and  read  it  with  her  ;  it 
Avas  the  fifth  chapter  of  Second  Corinthians,  in 
which  the  apostle  compares  the  mortal  body  to 
a  tent  or  tabernacle  to  be  taken  down,  and 
speaks  of  the  joy  with  which  he  looked  forward 
to  being  clothed  upon  with  a  house — not  a  tent 
— "  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens."  Verse  1.  She  had  been  peculiarly 
struck  with  those  words  which  the  apostle 
dwells  upon  and  returns  to  :  "  We  that  are  in 
this  tabernacle  do  groan,  being  burdened." 
Verse  4.  How  well  did  the  description  agree 
with  her  own  experience  and  suflPering !  These 
words  had  caught  her  attention  on  that  very  ac- 
count, and  awakened  her  mind  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  vv^hole  passage.     At  the  conclusion 


160  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

of  the  visit,  she  said  to  me,  "  Pray  leave  the 
book  open,  sir,  that  I  may  mark  the  place,  and 
may  ask  my  son  S.,  when  he  comes,  to  read  it  to 
me  again."  And  this  I  heard  from  him  she  did, 
listening  to  it  with  a  still  deeper  interest  than 
before. 

Here  I  would  remark  that  what  struck  me 
during  the  whole  course  of  her  illness  was,  the 
way  in  which  Scripture  lay  like  a  seed  in  her 
heart.  She  listened  with  a  quiet,  solemn  atten- 
tion ;  but  having  heard  the  word,  she  kept  it : 
it  became  rooted  in  the  depths  of  her  heart. 
Silently  and  secretly  it  took  deep  root,  and  it 
was  gathering  strength,  and  its  vigorous  growth 
was  going  on,  as  it  were,  under  ground.  After 
a  time  we  saw  the  plant  rise  above  the  surface, 
yet  it  was  at  first  as  a  tender  blade.  She  now 
felt  deeply  the  priceless  value  of  the  word  of 
God,  and  it  was  evident  to  those  who  knew  her 
well  that  she  felt  as  deeply  also  its  unspeakable 
importance.  The  book  was  not  closed,  nor  the 
passage  which  had  been  read  forgotten ;  it  was 
kept  before  her  eyes,  it  was  pondered  in  her 
heart ;  her  thoughts  would,  as  it  were,  feed  upon 
it,  as  she  read  it  over  and  over  again,  when  by 
herself ;  and  if  her  sons  came  in  from  their  sep- 
arate homes,  they  were  called  upon  to  read 
again  the  chapter  she  had  marked,  while  there 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  161 

were  always  those  in  the  house  whom  she  could 
ask  to  read  the  desh'ed  portion  to  her.  Some- 
times, when  the  words  came  close  in  their  appli- 
cation to  her  own  case,  she  would  raise  her  hand 
and  wipe  away  the  quiet  tears  which  filled  her 
eyes.  Her  remarks  were  few,  but  always  to  the 
point;  and  I  could  plainly  see  that  they  came 
from  her  heart.  But  it  was  only  by  slow  de- 
grees that  these  signs  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  work 
in  her  heart  were  so  plainly  evident ;  and  on 
several  occasions  I  and  she  of  whom  I  spoke 
before,  came  away  from  visiting  her,  desponding 
as  to  the  reality  of  the  change,  for  we  stood  in 
doubt  of  her.  But  we  were  mistaken,  as  we 
afterward  found  ;  we  were  looking  too  anxiously 
for  the  ear,  when  as  yet  the  green  blade  only 
was  visible. 

Such  protracted  and  intense  suffering  has  sel- 
dom been  the  lot  of  any  human  being,  especially 
during  those  last  three  years,  when  she  was  no 
longer  able  to  leave  the  house.  She  never 
knew  what  it  was  to  find  rest,  except  when, 
worn  down  by  ceaseless  pain,  she  sank  into  a 
short  slumber,  and  this  seldom  lasted  more  than 
an  hour  at  a  time  during  the  whole  night;  for 
her  nights  were  sleepless  as  her  days  were  rest- 
less. On  no  occasion  of  our  frequent  visits  did 
we  find  her  otherwise  than  in  this  restless  state. 
11 


162  REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

Many  passages  of  the  Scriptures  engaged  her 
attention,  and  she  might  be  said  to  be  occupied 
with  the  statutes  of  her  God  by  day  and  night. 
Often  as  I  saw  her,  I  scarcely  remember  a  time 
when  I  did  not  find  her  with  her  Bible  open  on 
tlie  table  before  her.  "  I  do  not  wish  to  see  any 
company  now,"  she  would  say.  "I  like  to  be 
alone  with  my  Bible..  This  is  my  enjoyment." 
She  complained  on  one  occasion  of  the  worldly 
conversation  of  some  of  her  acquaintance  who 
had  come  to  sit  with  her  on  the  previous  Lord's 
day.  Once  she  had  enjoyed  their  society ;  but 
she  now  felt  grieved  and  disturbed  by  their 
coming,  and  wished  herself  alone  with  her  Bible. 
I  may  here  mention  another  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture which  God  had  brought  home  to  her  heart 
with  much  assurance  and  comfort,  on  which  she 
loved  to  dwell,  and  to  which  she  often  referred : 
"  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and 
it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be :  but 
we  know  that,  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall 
be  like  him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." 
1  John  iii,  2.  There  were  many  more  precious 
portions  of  the  word  of  hfe  which  were  life  and 
peace  to  her  soul.  I  would  note  especially  the 
fourteenth  chapter  of  John's  Gospel,  and  that 
repeated  promise,  that  most  gracious  assurance 
— *'  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee." 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  163 

Death  had  no  terror  in  her  eyes.  Her  chief 
desire  was  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ.  She 
would  gently  chide  her  children  when  they 
spoke,  as  they  would  naturally  do,  of  her.  re- 
covery, and  their  hope  that  she  might  yet  be 
spared  to  them.  She  would  say,  "  If  you  wish 
to  see  me  happy,  you  would  not  wish  to  keep  me 
here." 

Her  illness  had  now  advanced  rapidly,  and  we 
all  supposed  that  she  could  not  be  much  longer 
among  us.  In  no  position  could  she  obtain  ease 
from  the  incessant  suffering  she  underwent. 
Vainly  did  she  seek  relief  from  changes  ;  some- 
times standing,  then  sitting,  then  lying  down ;  at 
times  kneeling,  and  pressing  her  chest  against 
the  rim  of  the  table.  Her  appetite  failed  her, 
and  she  began  to  dislike  every  kind  of  meat,  and 
could  only  eat  light  and  delicate  sweet  things 
which  came  unexpectedly  to  her.  But  even  of 
these,  or  of  any  kind  of  food  which  she  might 
afterward  fancy,  she  took  little.  That  which 
would  have  been  quite  insuflScient  to  satisfy 
the  hunger  of  another  person,  afforded  her  sev- 
eral meals.  Her  weakness  was  very  great,  and 
she  seemed  gradually  fading  away  ;  but  she  had 
yet  a  long  time  to  suffer  on,  though  we  often 
expected  from  her  appearance  that  a  few  weeks 
would  close  her  mortal  course.     Still  not  a  mur- 


164  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

mur  escaped  her  lips,  and  her  testimony  to  the 
Lord's  goodness  was  not  only  the  submission  of 
her  will  and  the  acquiescence  of  her  mind  to 
that  which  he  had  appointed,  but  one  strain  of 
rejoicing  and  thankfulness  for  his  mercies  to  her- 
self. This  was  her  constant  theme,  on  which 
she  delighted  to  dwell  when  conversing  with  a 
very  few  to  whom  she  spoke  of  her  inward 
state  ;  to. those  few  her  testimony  was  clear,  and 
decided,  and  unvarying;  it  was  all  love,  praise, 
and  thankfulness.  As  for  her  suffering,  heavy 
and  protracted  and  wearying  indeed  it  was  ;  but 
she  would  smile  Avhen  we  brought  before  her 
the  inspired  words  of  the  apostle  where  he 
speaks  of  this  "  light  affliction  which  is  but  for 
a  moment,"  as  if  by  faith  she  also  was  enabled 
to  attain  to  the  same  experience. 

A  single  eye  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  cruci- 
fied, and  a  simple  faith  in  him  and  in  him  alone, 
was  the  one  chief  point  on  which  from  first  to 
last,  and  during  the  whole  course  of  her  illness, 
we  endeavored  to  fix  her  attention — this,  I  re- 
peat, was  the  first  thing,  and  the  last  thing,  and 
the  chief  thing ;  we  desired  to  know  nothing 
but  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified,  in  our  long- 
continued  intercourse  Avith  her;  and  she  was 
enabled  by  his  grace  to  receive  him  as  the  hght 
of  life,  and  as-  the  hope  of  glory,  into  her  sink- 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  165 

ing  heart.  We  were  permitted  to  see  her 
grounded  and  settled  in  the  faith  of  Christ  as 
on  a  rock.  He  had  indeed  become  all  and  in 
all  to  her.  Weary  and  heavy  laden,  she  had 
gone  to  him  and  found  rest  to  her  soul ;  and 
Christ  having  thus  become  the  ground  of  all  her 
hope  and  all  her  faith,  the  eflfect  of  this  is  here 
related. 

V/e,  however,  had  but  little  to  do  in  this 
work  :  we  did  but  "  tell  her  words  whereby  she 
might  be  saved,"  and  "the  Lord  opened  her 
heart,  that  she  attended  unto  the  things  that 
were  spoken  "  by  us ;  we  did  but  simply  set  be- 
fore her  the  bread  of  life,  and  she  gladly  and 
thankfully  received  it  as  her  food,  and  was 
strengthened  with  food  in  her  soul.  But  we 
prayed  with  her  and  for  her,  that  God  would 
strengthen  her  by  his  Holy  Spirit.  She  joined 
in  our  prayers  with  all  her  heart,  and  those 
prayers  were  heard.  She  was  enabled  by  the 
Spirit  to  receive  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
which  had  before  been  foolishness  unto  her, 
neither  could  she  know  them,  because  they  are 
spiritually  discerned.  We  loved  our  Divine 
Pastor,  and  we  loved  her,  and  it  was  our  privi- 
lege to  set  before  her  the  Bread  of  Life,  which 
if  a  man  eat,  he  shall  live  forever.  But  it  was 
altogether  a  quiet  and  almost  a  secret  work ;  the 


166  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

Lord  had  withdrawn  her  from  the  glare  and 
glitter  of  this  poor  disappointing  world  into  the 
gloom  of  its  shady  places,  there  to  lift  up  the 
light  of  his  countenance  upon  her.  He  had 
brought  her  into  the  wilderness  far  from  the 
noise  and  din  of  the  busy  haunts  of  men,  there 
in  the  silence  of  that  desolate  solitude  to  speak 
with  a  still  small  voice  in  the  depths  of  her  soul, 
and  to  speak  comfortably  to  her;  and  there 
was  no  display  made  before  men,  no  voice  of 
commendation  heard — he  made  himself  and  his 
abounding  consolations  all-sufficient  to  her. 

She  was  truly  a  living  illustration  of  that  di- 
vine parable  :  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like 
unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took,  and  hid  in 
three  measures  of  meal,  till  the  whole  was  leav- 
ened." Matt,  xiii,  33.  The  leaven  pervaded 
the  whole  character,  the  principles,  the  temper, 
the  words,  the  actions — all  was  thus  leavened. 
We  saw  in  her  the  truth  and  reality  of  that 
Scripture — "If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a 
new  creature  :  old  things  are  passed  away  ;  be- 
hold all  things  are  become  new."  2  Cor.  v,  lY. 

I  pass  over  a  long  space  of  time,  and  of  pro- 
tracted suffering.  It  was  marked  ahke  by  the 
sure  and  steady  progression  of  her  fatal  disease, 
and  by  the  sure  and  steady  advancement  of 
God's  work  of  sanctification  within  her.     And 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  16*7 

as  death,  inevitable  death,  was  to  be  the  end  of 
the  one,  so  life,  eternal  life,  was  to  be  the  issue 
of  the  other.  To  common  observers  little  was 
known  of  the  one  or  of  the  other.  She  was  with- 
drawn so  entirely  from  the  world  and  the  obser- 
vation of  the  people  of  the  world  ;  she  was  seen 
by  so  few  beyond  the  loving  circle  of  her  own 
family,  and  the  weary  season  was  so  protracted, 
that  she  was  almost  as  one  forgotten.  But 
doubtless  all  the  while  the  angels  of  heaven 
were  watching  with  intense  interest  the  work  of 
grace  and  spiritual  growth,  in  its  progression 
and  development,  rejoicing  that  another  heir 
of  glory  was  preparing  for  the  courts  above. 
And  He  who  was  sitting  as  the  Refiner  over 
his  own  work  was  dealing"  more  and  more  ten- 
derly with  her  as  its  painful  consummation  drew 
nigh. 

Her  suffering  was  so  great,  and  her  state — I 
mean  only  that  of  her  poor,  weak,  wasted  body 
— altogether  so  truly  pitiable,  that  she  told  me 
she  could  not  help  praying  that  her  gracious 
Lord  would  remove  her,  and  hoping  that  the 
time  was  now  close  at  hand.  She  might  well 
have  poured  forth  the  plaintive  lament  of  Job, 
"  Have  pity,  have  pity  on  me,  0  my  friends ;" 
but  when  it  might  have  been  expected  that  some 
expression  of  complaint   or   murmuring  would 


168  EEMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

escape  her  lips,  she  began  with  deep  fervor  of 
spirit  to  bless  and  praise  God,  and  to  say  that 
surely  no  one  was  so  blessed  or  so  favored  as 
herself,  that  she  met  with  nothing  but  mercies 
from  his  hand — and  a  faint  smile  played  over 
her  face  as  she  spoke ;  but  it  was  always  with 
smiles  that  she  told  of  that  holy  joy  which  had 
been  so  abundantly  shed  abroad  in  her  heart  by 
the  Divine  Comforter.  Ill  as  she  was,  and  suf- 
fering from  ceaseless  pain,  and  tried  by  the  pe- 
culiar character  of  her  dreadful  disease,  she  was 
really  happy.  Oftpn  when  asked  whether,  if  the 
choice  were  given  her  of  returning  to  the  world, 
to  ease,  and  to  health,  and  to  enjoyment  in  this 
life,  in  her  formerly  ungodly  state — or  to  be  as 
she  then  was,  never  free  from  pain  and  suffering, 
and  yet  blessed  as  she  also  was  with  the  saving- 
knowledge  of  Christ — often  has  she  joyfully  de- 
clared that  she  would  not  exchange  her  state  for 
all  that  the  world  could  offer  to  her.  Earnestly 
as  she  longed  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ, 
there  was  no  impatience  in  her  desire.  She  did 
not  wish,  she  would  say,  to  hasten  God's  time ; 
she  felt  that  it  was  "  good  that  she  should  both 
hope  and  quietly  wait  for  the  salvation  of  the 
Lord ;"  and  thus  we,  who  went  to  speak  to  her 
of  the  Lord's  mercies,  and  to  instruct  her  in  the 
saving  truths  of  his  gospel,  came  back  feeling 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERY.  169 

that  we  had  been  the  learners  in  that  sick  cham- 
ber, and  had  been  taught  by  her. 

There  was  indeed  a  marked  difference  between 
the  commencement  of  the  hfe  of  God  in  her 
soul,  and  its  advancement  as  she  drew  nearer 
and  nearer  to  the  end  of  her  pilgrimage.  Her 
growth  in  grace  was  very  remarkable.  The  full 
corn  in  the  ear  was  fast  ripening  for  the  garner. 
The  vessel  of  gold  was  about  to  receive  its  last 
and  most  exquisite  finishings,  before,  like  the  pil- 
lar in  the  mystical  temple  of  God,  (Rev.  iii,  12,) 
it  was  to  be  removed  to  the  temple  "  to  go  no 
more  out." 

From  this  period  she  passed  the  greater  por- 
tion of  her  time  in  solitude,  till  within  the  last 
week  of  her  life.  She  wished  to  be  alone ;  it 
was  at  her  especial  desire  that  no  one  remained 
with  her.  If  her  young  and  gentle  daughter, 
the  only  unmarried  child  at  home,  or  if  her 
kind-hearted  sister-in-law,  who  had  come  to 
nurse  her,  took  up  their  needlework  after  the 
household  duties  of  the  day  to  sit  by  turns  in 
her  chamber,  she  would  ask  them  not  to  stay ; 
she  felt  even  their  presence  an  interruption  to 
her  constant  communion  with  her  God.  "  She 
lay  there  praying,"  said  the  latter  to  me  :  "  she 
seemed  to  fall  asleep  in  prayer  and  to  awake  in 
prayer."     Her  sleep,  as  I  have  said  before,  was 


1*70  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

of  short  continuance,  and  the  long  hours  of  the 
night  were  usually  sleepless  hours.  But  she 
spoke  of  them  as  a  delightful  season,  for  they 
were  cheered  and  brightened  by  sweet  and 
pleasant .  thoughts  of  Christ  and  of  his  love ; 
and  her  merciful  and  gracious  Lord  more  than 
made  up  for  that  bodily  suffering  which  knew  no 
cessation,  by  the  rich  and  inward  consolations 
with  which  he  abounded  toward  her.  He  might 
be  truly  said  to  supply  all  her  need,  according 
to  his  riches  in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus.  "  He 
giveth  songs  in  the  night,"  said  one  of  her  vis- 
itors to  her.  "  He  does  indeed,"  she  said, 
"and  I  am  never  lonely.  I  always  feel  God 
near  me." 

But  the  time  drew  near  when  she  was  to  die. 
It  seemed  wonderful  that  so  slight  a  thread  of 
life  should  have  held  on  so  long.  It  was  evi- 
dent to  those  around  her,  that  now  she  could 
not  possibly  survive  many  days.  She  was 
seized  with  a  violent  fit  of  coughing,  which 
lasted  a  long  time,  and  was  succeeded  by  such 
a  prostration  of  all  her  faculties,  that  it  appeared 
as  if  their  dissolution  had  already  commenced. 
Every  tinge  of  color  faded  from  her  countenance, 
and  she  herself  was  convinced  that  the  hour 
was  near  at  hand,  and  that  she  should  never 
rally  again.     She  now  entreated  her  sister-in- 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  l7l 

law  never  to  leave  her,  though  she  grieved  to 
keep  her  in  the  atmosphere  of  her  chamber ;  for 
her  disease  had  made  extensive  progress;  part 
of  her  body  was  already  mortified,  and  it  was 
now  necessary  to  keep  the  window  always  open. 
This  was  not  the  least  of  her  trials,  from  the 
pecuHar  and  dehcate  cleanhness  and  neatness  of 
her  own  habits.  She  was  scarcely  able  to  bear 
herself;  and  two  of  her  relations  who  were 
most  with  her  were  seized  with  illness  after  her 
death,  owing  to  the  effluvia  of  the  sick  room. 
"  I  was  obliged  to  pray,"  said  another  friend, 
"the  last  time  I  visited  her,  lest  I  should  be 
overcome  as  I  sat  by  her  side,  and  she  should 
perceive  it  and  her  feelings  be  hurt."  She  gave 
strict  injunctions  during  those  last  few  days  to 
her  dear  old  friend,  as  she  always  called  her 
sister-in-law,  that  her  children,  particularly  her 
youngest  daughter,  should  seldom  be  permitted 
to  come  to  her,  and  when  she  did  come  she  for- 
bade her  to  stay  beyond  a  few  seconds.  Won- 
derful strength  and  support  were  given  to  that 
true  and  devoted  friend  to  bear  all  and  to  be 
with  her  constantly  to  the  last.  Strong  love 
and  deep  piety  were  indeed  needed  to  nerve  her 
for  so  trying  a  service,  and  that  service  was 
made  the  more  onerous  from  the  fact  that  not  a 
nurse  among  her  poorer  neighbors  could  be  in- 


1*72  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

duced  even  for  a  few  nights  to  supply  her  place. 
For  nine  days  and  nights  this  real  friend  never 
took  off  her  clothes,  nor  lay  down  upon  a  bed. 

She  had  loved  to  have  me  and  my  wife  with 
her ;  and  on  one  occasion,  soon  after  the  com- 
mencement of  her  illness,  she  sent  us  a  touching 
message,  saying  that  she  had  seen  us  pass,  and 
that  her  heart  had  sunk  when  she  found  we  did 
not  come  in  to  see  her.  But  when  the  rapid 
change  took  place  which  immediately  preceded 
her  death,  she  had  charged  her  sister-in-law  not 
to  send  for  us.  We  had  at  times  called  at  the 
door,  and  had  not  been  admitted,  and  we  were 
kept  in  ignorance  of  her  state,  or  nothing  would 
have  kept  us  away  from  the  chamber  of  the 
dying  saint.  "  Give  them  my  kind  respects  and 
my  love,"  she  said,  "  but  do  not  let  them  know 
till  I  am  gone — do  not  send  to  them,  it  would 
make  them  ill."  And  thus  we  were  deprived 
of  what  we  should  have  deemed  a  high  and  de- 
lightful privilege,  watching  and  praying  beside 
one  whom  we  had  constantly  seen  during  the 
last  few  years  of  her  weary  pilgrimage.  How 
touching  and  how  kind  was  the  proof  she  gave 
of  her  sweet,  unselfish  spirit !  but  how  gladly 
would  we  have  borne  all,  to  have  waited  at  the 
brink  of  the  dark  river  when  the  cheering  words 
were  whispered  to  her  inward  spirit,  *'  The  Mas- 


OF    MORAL   RECOVERY.  l73 

ter  is  come,  and  calleth  for  thee,"  and  when  she 
passed  joyfully  over  the  river  like  a  triumphant 
conqueror  through  Him  that  loved  her  and  gave 
himself  for  her ! 

The  day  before  her  death,  it  was  the  wish  of 
her  relations  that  a  medical  man  should  be  sent 
for.  To  please  them  she  consented,  though  all 
medical  aid  had  long  been  considered  useless, 
and  given  up.  After  he  had  seen  her  and  left 
the  room,  she  said  to  her  sister-in-law,  "  Go 
down  after  him,  and  ask  him  how  long  he  thinks 
I  shall  continue."  The  answer  she  received  was, 
"  Not  many  hours  :  she  may  live  out  to-night, 
but  she  Avill  scarcely  see  another  night."  She 
received  the  message  with  a  smile  of  welcome  : 
but  her  faithful  friend  sat  down  by  her  and  said, 
"  Now  consider  seriously ;  you  know  that  you 
are  now  going ;  can  you  say  from  the  bottom  of 
your  heart,  that  if  you  might  recover,  and  be  as 
well  as  ever,  you  would  not  accept  the  offer  ? 
Are  you  really  ready  and  willing  to  go  ?"  She 
lay  quite  silently :  she  did  consider  seriously, 
and  said  nothing  for  a  Httle  time.  Then  the 
smile  came  over  her  face  again,  and  she  said, 
"  Yes,  I  have  considered,  and  I  am  willing.  I 
desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  my  Jesus." 
"  She  loved,  she  doated  upon  her  husband  and 
her  children,"  said   her  old   friend;  "but   she 


174  REMARKABLE   EXAMPLES 

turned  to  me  and  said,  *  I  can  leave  them  all 
without  a  tear.' " 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  I  feel  that  I  can 
have  left  but  a  faint  and  imperfect  impression  on 
the  reader's  mind  of  that  wearying  and  painful 
suffering  which  continued  without  any  intermis- 
sion by  day  and  night,  and  was  spread  over  the 
whole  course  of  those  three  long  years,  while  all 
the  time  the  more  heavily  the  weight  of  pain 
pressed  upon  her,  the  more  clear  and  bright  be- 
came her  faith  and  joy. 

I  spoke,  at  the  commencement  of  this  account, 
of  several  passages  of  Scripture  which  were  pe- 
culiarly precious  to  her,  and  on  all  of  these  her 
spirit  seemed  to  rest  the  whole  term  of  her  ill- 
ness. But  there  was  one  of  those  passages 
which  toward  the  last  she  could  not  bear  to 
hear  read  for  very  joy.  Like  Fletcher  of  Made- 
ley,  when  dying  her  heart  seemed  to  her  too 
narrow  to  contain  the  fullness  of  the  joy  that 
was  poured  into  it,  and  the  dawning  of  the  glo- 
rious light  upon  her  spirit  too  dazzling  to  be 
borne  by  her :  and  she  bade  them  read  no  more. 
This  was  the  Scripture  :  ^'  Beloved,  now  are  we 
the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear 
what  we  shall  be  :  but  we  know  that,  when  he 
shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him ;  for  we  shall 
see  him  as  he  is."  1  John  iii,  2.     0  that  we 


OF    MORAL    RECOVERY.  1*75 

could  all  realize  the  experience  to  which  she 
was  brought  by  the  grace  of  God !  With  what 
cold  hearts,  with  what  languid  desires,  do  we 
too  often  read  these  glorious  words  which 
brought  such  rapturous  joy  to  the  soul  of  this 
expiring  saint!  Yes,  even  the  vessel  of  gold, 
meet  as  it  seemed  for  the  Master's  use,  needed 
to  be  removed  to  the  sanctuary  above,  before  it 
could  be  found  capable  of  containing  the  fullness 
of  joy  for  which  it  was  prepared. 

But  let  not  the  reader  suppose  that  the  great 
enemy  of  souls  was  absent  from  that  hallowed 
chamber.  She  had  told  me  long  before  how 
much  she  sufiFered  from  his  temptations,  how  he 
would  fain  have  instilled  doubts  and  fears  into 
her  mind,  and  have  persuaded  her  that  her  hope 
was  a  delusion,  that  she  was  not  really  a  child 
of  God,  not  washed  from  her  sins  in  her  Re- 
deemer's blood.  Now  that  his  time  was  short, 
though  he  knew  that  he  could  not  pluck  her  out 
of  the  Father's  hand,  he  seemed  to  exercise  his 
utmost  malice  to  buffet  and  to  harass  her  spirit. 
During  two  nights  previous  to  her  departure, 
she  suffered  keenly  from  his  sharp  attacks,  and 
this  lasted  through  the  whole  of  the  one  night, 
and  for  full  two  hours  of  the  other.  She  told 
lier  friend  who  was  Avatching  by  her,  that  she 
continued  to  pray,  but  that   it  seemed  to  her 


1*76  REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 

that  the  more  she  prayed  the  more  he  harassed 
her :  and  her  countenance,  as  she  spoke,  showed 
the  painful  agony  of  the  conflict  she  endured. 
At  last  she  cried  out,  "  I  have  gained  the  victory ; 
he  is  gone,  he  is  gone !"  "  I  could  always  see," 
said  her  friend,  *'  when  the  Holy  Spirit  was  work- 
ing in  her,  by  her  countenance ;  it  was  so  joyful, 
so  beautiful !" 

Shortly  before  she  died,  when  one  of  her 
neighbors  came  in  to  watch  beside  her,  with  her 
sister-in-law,  as  they  sat  in  silence  they  saw  her 
beckoning,  and  one  of  them  hastened  to  her  and 
said,  "  Did  you  want  anything  ?  did  you  beckon 
for  me  ?"  "  0  no,  not  for  you,"  she  answered 
with  a  smile ;  **  I  want  my  heavenly  Father." 

As  she  departed  she  extended  her  arms,  and 
cried  out,  **  He  is  coming  now.  He  is  coming 
now !"  "I  shall  never  forget  her  beautiful 
countenance,"  said  her  neighbor  to  me,  "  or  how 
beautifully  she  smiled  before  she  went."  *'  Her 
face,"  said  her  sister-in-law,  "  when  she  died,  was 
like  that  of  an  angel."  She  looked  indeed  as  if 
she  felt  that  the  suffering  of  this  present  time 
was  not  worthy  to  be  compared  w4th  the  glory 
that  should  be  revealed  in  her. 

This  is  a  strange  account,  the  thoughtless 
reader  may  say.     My  only  reply  is  this :  it  is  a 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERY.  iT*? 

true  one  ;  it  is  all  true,  there  is  no  exaggeration : 
nay,  it  is  impossible  for  words  to  convey  a  faith- 
ful portraiture  of  the  transfonnation  ejQfected  by 
the  grace  of  God  in  her,  whose  almost  hidden 
life  I  have  attempted  to  describe  in  the  foregoing 
pages. 

This  was  no  common  case.  During  the  whole 
of  my  ministry  for  the  last  thirty  years,  I  have 
seen  but  one  other  such  sufferer,  but  one  such 
instance  of  a  disease  so  painful,  and  not  one  of 
a  disease  so  loathsome,  not  only  to  the  suflferer 
herself,  but  to  those  around  her.  Never  have  I 
seen  a  more  simple,  childlike  trust ;  a  more  hum- 
ble, earnest  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  and  him  cruci- 
fied, or  a  more  realizing  experience  of  his  finished 
work  of  righteousness,  who  "  was  made  sin  for 
us,"  though  he  "  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be 
made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him."  2  Cor. 
V,  21.  It  was  in  "her  Jesus,"  as  she  loved  to 
say,  that  she  trusted  entirely  for  salvation. 
How  frequently,  in  the  midst  of  her  own  ago- 
nies, would  she  quiet  herself  by  saying,  "  But 
what  are  my  sufferings  to  His  ?  I  deserve  to 
suffer ;  but  he  did  no  sin,  he  only  suffered  for 
us."  It  is  not  only  the  testiaiony  of  ourselves, 
who  saw  her  from  time  to  time,  that  she  never 
murmured,  but  bore  all  that  the  Lord  laid  upon 
her  with  a  saint-like  patience  which  was  as  new 
12 


178 


REMARKABLE    EXAMPLES 


to  her  natural  character  as  it  was  beautiful  and 
satisfactory  to  witness ;  but  it  was  also  the  testi- 
mony of  that  faithful  friend  who  never  quitted 
her,  who  waited  upon  her  by  day  and  by  night, 
that  she  never  heard  a  complaint  from  her  li^ps  \ 
she  only  prayed  that  the  Lord  would  give  her 
patience.  "AH  that  I  did  for  her  was  right," 
she  said  :  she  never  murmured ;  she  was  thank- 
ful for  everything.  The  contrast  of  this  state 
to  what  she  had  before  been,  made  this  so  re- 
markable as  to  be  evidently  the  work  of  God 
in  her. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  island  of  Ceylon,  the 
pearl-fishers,  when  they  have  dived  beneath  the 
waves  for  their  precious  treasures,  and  gathered 
a  large  quantity  of  the  pearl-oysters,  heap  them 
together,  and  leave  them  to  rot  under  the  burn- 
ing sun  of  that  tropical  climate,  until  the  whole 
atmosphere  around  is  poisoned  with  the  loath- 
some effluvia  of  the  corrupting  mass.    And  then, 
when  the  work  of  corruption  has  taken  place,' 
the  fair  and  lustrous  pearls  are  found  loosened 
from  their  putrifying  inclosures ;  and  the  most 
precious  are  eagerly  collected  to  be  transferred 
to  a  high  destiny,  even   to  gleam  among  the 
jewels  of  the  great  ones  of  the  earth.     May  we 
not   find  in  her  of  whom  I  have   spoken  the 
lovely  reality  of  this  type  and  similitude,  even 


OF   MORAL   RECOVERY.  179 

the  case  of  one  whose  purified  and  precious 
spirit  was  taken  away  from  the  corruption  of  her 
poor  mortal  tenement,  to  shine  among  those 
whom  He  who  is  Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of 
kings,  will  claim  as  his  own,  in  that  day  when  he 
maketh  up  his  jewels  ? 


180        REMARKABLE  EXAMPLES 


LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  LATE  EARL  OE  DUCIE.'* 


It  has  been  my  lot  to  witness  tlie  closing  scene  of 
many  a  man's  mortal  career;  and  various,  both 
in  character  and  degree,  has  been  the  experience 
which,  at  those  solemn  seasons,  has  come  under 
my  observation.  I  have  seen  joy,  and  triumph, 
and  holy  assurance,  equal  to  those  of  Henry 
Moreton,  the  late  Earl  of  Ducie;  I  have  seen 
bodily  distress,  groaning,  anguish,  far  greater  than 
his ;  but  never  in  the  case  of  any  one  individual 
have  I  witnessed  the  combination  of  both,  as  in 
his  last  hours.  I  say  it  deliberately,  that  as  an 
exhibition  of  grace  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  nature 
on  the  other, — of  grace,  uplifting  the  soul  to  God. 
fixing,  and  concentrating,  and  absorbing  it  in  the 
love  of  Christ ;  and  of  nature,  exerting  its  dread 
power  in  distress  of  the  body, — this  was  the 
most  instructive  termination  of  life  I  ever  beheld 
— the  most  impressive,  the  most  profitable.  ] 
learned  then,  as  never  before,  what  God  can  do  • 

"'  Abridged  from  a  Funeral  Discourse  hy  the  Rev 
Capel  Molyneux,  B.  A. 


OF  MORAL  RECOVERY.  181 

yet,  what  nature  also  will  do !  I  learned — inval- 
uable lesson ! — that,  though  the  believer  has  re- 
ceived the  adoption  of  the  Spirit,  he  has  not  receiv- 
ed the  adoption  of  the  body.  No  !  that  of  a  truth  is 
not  here,  not  yet.  Great  God,  hasten  it  in  thy  time ! 

The  earl's  career  as  a  man  of  God,  as  the  sub- 
ject of  saving  grace,  had  not  been  long.  Till 
within  a  late  period,  comparatively  speaking,  he 
had  been  a  mere  man  of  this  world — living  in  the 
world,  and  for  the  world,  and  nothing  else.  His 
temperament,  habits,  character,  conversation,  were 
all  signally  of  this  stamp :  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
he  was,  naturally  and  practically,  far  from  God. 
His  constitutional  tendency  also  was  reserved,  even 
to  a  fault ;  and  so  it  remained  after  his  conversion  : 
so  much  so,  indeed,  that  it  was  exceedingly  diflS- 
cult  to  ascertain,  in  private  and  friendly  intercourse, 
the  real  spiritual  state  of  the  man.  He  would 
not  be  drawn  out.  And  this  must  be  borne  in 
mind ;  for,  in  reference  to  this  particular,  the 
power  of  grace  at  last  was  signally  apparent,  and 
nature  was  utterly  vanquished. 

But,  though  his  career  as  a  Christian  man  was 
not  long,  do  not  suppose  that  his  Christian  history 
was  limited  to  a  death-bed  repentance.  Verily, 
no !  I  am  not  going  to  describe  a  death-bed  re- 
pentance. I  never  saw  a  death-bed  repentance 
of  this  character :  never  such  fruit,  such  expres- 


182     '  REMARKABLE  EXAMPLES 

sion  of  grace,  or  grace  so  employed.  The  death- 
bed may  serve  to  develop,  and  mature,  and 
marvelously  expand  into  flower  and  fruit  the 
seed  already  sown;  but  when  it  is  then  for  the 
first  time  deposited^ — admitting  it  to  be  so, — 
scant  must  be  the  harvest  it  is  likely  to  produce. 
Not  so  with  Henry  Moreton.  His  career  had 
been  long  enough  to  estabhsh  his  heart,  and  jus- 
tify his  profession.  Years  before  his  death  had 
the  Lord  brought  him  to  the  knowledge  and 
reception  of  the  truth  ;  and  during  that  period, 
though  personally  reserved,  his  conduct  and  char- 
acter were  clearly  demonstrative  of  the  change 
that  had  passed  upon  him.  He  was  a  decided 
man ;  decided  in  whatever  he  embraced ;  and 
decided,  therefore,  for  the  Lord,  when  he  embraced 
the  Lord's  cause.  Here  there  was  no  question  or 
ambiguity  whatever;  no  shrinking  from  honest 
confession,  no  halting  between  two  opinions,  no 
wavering  between  Christ  and  the  world :  I  ever 
felt  that,  though  impervious  to  observation  as  to 
internal  experience,  yet  outwardly  in  conduct  and 
character  he  was  unequivocally  on  the  Lord's 
side.  This  was  proved  whenever  occasion  served. 
Witness  the  weekly  meetings  held  at  his  house 
in  Belgrave-square,  when  God's  truth  was  set  forth 
without  compromise,  and  that  before  a  mixed 
assembly,  including  many  of  the  children  of  this 


OF  MORAL  RECOVERY.  183 

world — full  of  vanity  and  folly ;  but  welcomed 
there,  in  hope  that  a  ray  of  the  light  from  heaven, 
entering  their  souls,  might  bring  them  to  the 
cross  of  Christ,  and  make  them  monuments  of 
grace,  to  the  glory  of  God.  These  meetings  in 
his  own  house — meetings  in  which  he  rejoiced 
because  of  their  profit  to  himself,  because  of  the 
prospect  of  usefulness  to  others,  and  because  of 
the  proof  they  afforded  of  his  hearty  and  devoted 
approval  of  Bible  truth — demonstrated  whose  he 
was,  in  whom  he  gloried,  and  with  whom,  in  the 
sight  of  all  men,  he  desired  to  be  closely  and  un- 
mistakably identified. 

Also,  let  his  own  immediate  neighborhood  and 
estate — let  schools  and  missionaries,  and  other 
helps  to  the  propagation  of  truth,  set  on  foot  and 
supported  by  himself,  and  greatly  cared  for, — to 
say  nothing  of  the  aid  rendered  by  personal  super- 
vision and  liberality  to  the  County  Scripture 
Readers'  Association,  and  other  kindred  institu- 
tions,— I  say  let  all  these  things  testify  to  the 
bent  of  his  mind,  and  the  tendency  of  his  heart. 

On  Sunday,  May  29th,  it  was  intimated  to  him 
that  recovery,  humanly  speaking,  was  impossible. 
He  was  bid  to  keep  quiet,  and  avoid  any  needless 
exertion  or  excitement;  but  his  reply  was,  "/ 
have  been  silent  too  long :  T  must  say  ivliat  God 
is  doing  for  my  soul"     From  that  monjent  his 


184  REMARKABLE  EXAMPLES 

testimony  began ;  and,  before  that  testimony  is 
given  in  his  own  words,  let  me  assure  you  that 
all  was  delivered  in  a  manner  and  mode  of  utter- 
ance the  calmest  and  most  deliberate  possible. 
It  was  the  expression,  as  to  manner  and  deport- 
ment, as  well  as  utterance  and  sentiment,  of  a 
man  who  Jcnew  where  he  was, — what  ivas  before 
him, — and  tvhat  he  said.  It  was  the  deliberate 
expression  of  a  soul  consciously  standing  on  the 
brink  of  eternity,  determined  to  tell  what,  with 
such  a  prospect  in  view,  truth  is. 

All  reserve  was  gone.  He  spoke  out  his  whole 
soul, — spoke  simply,  evidently,  completely,  as  he 
actually  was,  as  he  felt  himself  to  be ;  exhibiting, 
as  in  a  glass,  his  inmost  thought  and  whole  expe- 
rience. Natural  reserve  had  been  before  strength- 
ened, rather  than  diminished,  by  Christian  experi- 
ence. The  recollection  of  his  career,  when  not  a 
Christian  man,  made  him  silent  when  he  became 
one.  He  felt,  he  said,  he  ivas  not  the  man  to  speak  ; 
he  had  lived  too  long  without  God  and  for  the 
world;  none  would  listen  to  such  a  one;  his  sins  had 
been  too  great,  too  prominent ;  he  must  be  dumb, 
and  go  softly.  We  honor  the  feeling,  though  we 
lament  its  influence  and  result.  It  was  a  mistake, 
but  on  the  right  side ;  and  it  was  rectified,  so  far 
as  past  mistakes  can  be  rectified,  at  the  last.  He 
spoke  more,  and  more  to  the  purpose,  in  the  last 


OF  MORAL  RECOVERY,  185 

few  days,  than  many  of  us  speak  in  as  many,  or 
double  that  number  of  years. 

The  mind  was  not  only  calm,  but  collected  and 
able ;  so  much  so,  that  I  beheve,  till  within  the 
last  very  few  hours  of  his  existence,  he  could  have 
transacted  any  complicated  business  as  well  as 
at  any  former  period  of  his  life.  His  testimony 
was  deliberate  and  reflective,  as  well  as  decisive 
and  unreserved. 

Much,  of  course,  was  said  incidentally:  much, 
deeply  affecting  and  instructive,  which  could  not 
be  recorded  ;  originating  in  some  passing  circum- 
stance, and  for  its  value  dependent  on  such  cir- 
cumstance, yet  ever  appropriate,  and  indicative 
of  the  spiritual  tendency  of  his  mind.  But 
enough  was,  as  it  were,  systematically  delivered 
to  demonstrate  what  we  desire  to  show, — the 
blessedness  of  his  experience,  and  the  power  of 
grace  in  the  redemption  of  the  soul. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  dying  experience, 
he  said,  "  I  have  dishonored  God  enough  in  my 
life ;  let  me  honor  him  in  my  death.  Who  can 
tell  what  the  words  of  a  dying  man  may  do  ?" 

Again :  "  I  thank  God  I  have  found  a  Saviour, 
and  such  a  Saviour!  Never  doubt  him.  0, 
what  a  God  has  he  been  to  me !  Nothing  is  too 
hard  for  him.  Never  doubt  him.  If  Christ  were 
to  be  doubted,  who  ought  to  doubt  so  much  as 


186  REMARKABLE  EXAMPLES 

I  ?  If  one  sinner  ever  was  greater  than  another, 
I  am  he ;  but  Christ  is  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most those  who  come  to  him.  I  have  no  fears : 
I  thank  my  God  that  I  feel  clear  of  all  my  sins. 
O  God !  do  what  thou  wilt ;  but  suffer  me  not 
to  be  tempted  above  what  I  am  able  to  bear." 
To  his  friends  :  "  Only  those  who  have  been  for- 
given much,  love  much.  Come  and  stand  by 
me  when  I  am  passing  away:  pray  for  me  in 
that  hour  when  flesh  and  blood  shall  shake — 
pray  that  God  may  be  with  me  then." 

To  one  associated  with  him  in  the  Committee 
of  the  Gloucester  Scripture  Readers'  Association, 
of  which  Lord  Ducie  was  President,  he  said : 
"  Give  my  dying  remembrances  to  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Committee ;  and  tell  them  that  I  speak 
from  the  confines  of  eternity — that  the  importance 
of  the  work  in  which  we  are  engaged  never  ap- 
peared to  me  half  so  momentous  as  it  now  does. 
Beg  them  not  to  be  discouraged  by  the  removal 
of  so  many  of  the  members  to  their  rest,  but  to 
be  doubly  zealous  and  active.  Tell  them  that 
my  last  thoughts  will  be  with  them,  and  my  last 
prayers  will  be  for  their  continuance  in  their  great 
work." 

His  own  missionary  employed  on  his  own  imme- 
diate property,  and  in  the  neighborhood,  he  thus 
addressed  :  "Tell  the  people  that,  although  I  have 


OF  MORAL  RECOVERY.  ISY 

not  been  able  to  be  among  them  much,  my  heart 
has  been  with  them.  Tell  them  that  Christ  died 
for  them.  Tell  them  that  I  have  found  a  Saviour 
who  can  save  to  the  uttermost.  Tell  them  never 
to  doubt.  My  darkness  has  been  turned  into 
light,  and  I  accept  God's  promises  in  the  fullest 
way,  I  have  no  more  doubts.  Impress  upon  all 
that  it  is  not  too  late  to  come  to  Christ ;  that 
even  the  greatest  sinner  can  be  saved.  Pray  for 
me,  that,  when  I  am  passing  through  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  may  have  no  doubt. 
I  know  that  that  will  be  the  trying  time ;  but  so 
much  has  been  done  for  me  this  night,  that  I 
have  no  doubt  even  for  that  time.  I  know  that 
God  is  with  me.  Tell  the  people  that  I  die  a 
Christian." 

To  another  of  his  friends  :  "  It  requires  no  deep 
learning  to  go  to  God.  A  very  little  Bible  learn- 
ing will  take  us  to  the  throne  of  grace." 

To  his  principal  servants,  specially  sent  for,  and 
gathered  round  his  bed,  during  the  last  day  of 
his  sojourn,  he  said :  "  I  would  not  pass  away 
without  saying  a  word  to  you,  to  let  you  know 
what  the  Lord  has  done  for  me.  A  short  time 
since,  this  heart  was  cold,  and  dead,  and  obdurate ; 
but  now  he  has  turned  my  darkness  into  light. 
It  is  not  of  myself, — no  work  of  my  own, — but 
of  grace.     I  have  no  doubt.     I  could  not  doubt. 


188  REMARKABLE  EXAMPLES 

Do  not  you  doubt ;  for  the  vilest  have  obtained 
mercy.  May  the  peace  of  God  be  with  you  all ! 
And  may  the  light  of  his  countenance  shine  up- 
on you,  as  it  does  upon  me  at  this  moment  1" 

And  to  all  around :  "  Tell  ray  friends  that  it  is 
in  the  clear  light  of  reason  that  I  have  seen  God. 
Think  not  it  is  enthusiasm :  I  speak  the  words  of 
soberness  and  reality." 

Among  the  last  of  his  utterances  were  these 
precious  words:  ^'•Blessed  be  God,  my  title  is 
clear  to  mansions  beyond  the  sTciesy  Indeed,  the 
key-note  to  all  his  utterances  was  his  clear,  un- 
wavering, happy,  but  humble  assurance.  There 
never  was  a  cloud, — never  a  doubt  expressed,  or 
even,  as  we  believe,  for  a  moment  entertained. 
His  experience  in  this  respect  was  unvaried.  His 
soul  reflected  Christ ;  and  the  surface  was  calm, 
still,  unruffled.  "Let  me  die  the  death  of  the 
righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his !" 

But  this  is  not  the  entire  picture.  On  Wednes- 
day night  his  great  conflict  began,  and  from 
that  time  continued  till  within  the  last  half-hour 
of  his  mortal  existence.  It  was  terrible — not 
from  its  acute  sufiering  and  actual  agony;  not 
from  spiritual  darkness  or  doubt ;  but — from  the 
actual  process  of  dissolution.  It  was  distress  that 
admits  of  no  explanation.  Yet  here  it  seemed 
as  though  death   could  not  master  its  victim. 


OP  MORAL  RECOVERY.  189 

The  sting  was  gone ;  but  death,  even  without  the 
sting,  is — and  is  meant  to  be  so  seen — a  solemn, 
an  appalling  thing. 

But  enough:  his  end  was  still;  still  as  the 
peace  that  reigned  within.  There  was,  at  last,  no 
effort,  no  struggle :  •  nature  was  prostrate,  and 
ceased  to  act.  The  spring  of  life  stopped.  His 
spirit  was  let  go,  and  it  quitted  the  prison-house 
for  "  the  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens." 

The  truth  of  God  was  signally  demonstrated 
in  this  case.  As  well  deny  that  suffering  is  suf- 
fering, or  peace  is  peace,  as  deny  this.  Henry 
Moreton's  experience  was  simply  Scripture  theory 
verified  in  fact — Bible  portraiture  exhibited  in 
living  reality.  The  gospel  is  proclaimed  and 
proffered  as  a  remedy  for  perishing  man  :  Henry 
Moreton  took  it,  applied  it,  and  it  did  its  work. 
It  left  uncured  just  that  which,  for  the  present,  it 
professes  not  to  touch — the  body  !  but  the  rest, 
the  soul,  it  cured.  The  soul  was  triumphant,  the 
body  groaned.  This  is  not  fine-spun  argument, 
but  honest  fact !  Unless  we  deny  the  fact,  infi- 
delity perishes !  Go,  infidel,  to  the  death-bed  of 
a  Christian  man!  Thy  theory  will  crumble  to 
atoms.  Facts  are  stubborn  things :  on  a  Chris- 
tian's death-bed  they  are  more, — they  are  abso- 
lutely convincing  things. 


190  REMARKABLE  EXAMPLES 

Mark  the  only  kind  of  religion  that  will  stand 
—  Christ  in  the  heart,  and  the  heart  given  to 
Christ.  "  Give  your  heart  fresh  and  young  to 
the  Lord,"  said  he  of  whom  I  have  been  speaking. 
Christ  and  the  world  will  not  do :  it  must  be 
Christ,  and  not  the  world-;  Christ,  and  the 
world  renounced 


THE    END. 


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